^^                       PRINCETON.  N.  J.                       ^ 

1 

Library  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Eod^e.      Presented. 

i 

_..    -___     .L6    B81    ^.  .  . 
Buffalo    (N.Y. ) .    Central 

Presbyterian   Church. 
Memoir   of   John   C.    Lord,    D.D 

_ 

'^  V  Ow  EPerme  S** 


1/ 

MEMOIR 


JOHN    C.  LORD,  D.  D, 


PASTOR   OF  THE   CENTRAL  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
FOR  THIRTY-EIGHT  YEARS. 


CoMriLED  BY  Order  of  the  Church  Session. 


BUFFALO : 
THE    COURIER    COMPANY,    PRINTERS. 

187S. 


2ro 

2lj)c  Wift  tof)ose  Eobe  fje  Estccmc&  ijis  Jdjiaijcst 

^       ?lJoitor  lit  fjis  ®l&  ^gc  as  in  f)is  Youtf), 

«rnlr  to 

Numficrlcss  JFrieulis  tojo  a^csjpcctcti  fjim  rrs  a  JErnrDrv  of 

Htcrital  STvutijs,  to^o  a^rbcrcir  fiim  as  a  jfWiitistcr 

of  (E^vtst's  Crosprl,  anil  Mjo  Hobclr  {jini 

as  a  iWan,  tjdis  i^tlcmoir 

is  Betricatctr. 


RESOLUTIONS  BY  THE  CHURCH. 


The  Rev.  Dr.  Lord,  the  founder  of  this  Church,  and  its 
honored  Pastor  for  more  than  a  generation,  has  passed  from  earth 
to  the  better  world. 

Although,  at  his  venerable  age  and  in  his  frail  ^condition  of 
health,  this  event  was  not  wholly  unexpected  ;  although  the  worn- 
out  soldier  of  the  Cross,  for  some  weeks  had  been  longing  for  the 
summons  to  lay  down  his  weapons  and  armor,  and  be  at  rest, — yet 
the  shock  of  our  bereavement  seemed  sudden,  and  our  hearts  and 
tongues  are  still  stricken  with  the  "  dull  paralysis  of  woe." 

Society  at  large  mourns  the  loss  of  a  great  and  good  man  of 
singularly  sturdy  and  massive  character.  We,  his  old  parishioners, 
lament  an  affectionate,  sympathizing  friend  ;  a  wise  counselor ; 
a  loving,  faithful  shepherd,  endowed  with  those  rare,  magnetic 
qualities  that  irresistibly  knit  our  affections  to  his,  our  gifted, 
great-hearted  Pastor ;  our  beloved  and  revered  Father  in  Israel. 

All  his  blessed  ministrations  ;  all  our  sweet  communions  with 
him,  are  now  but  a  beautiful  memory, — yet  a  memory  which  is  im- 
perishable, and,  we  trust,  will  be  fruitful  for  good  evermore. 

God  grant  us  all  a  re-union  with  our  dear  and  sainted  Pastor  in 
the  land  where  there  shall  be  no  partings;  no  sundering  of  sacred 
ties,  and  where  the  Infinite  Father  shall  wipe  away  the  tears  from 
every  eye. 

Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  tribute  be  transmitted  to  the 
widow  and  family  of  the  deceased,  with  assurances  of  our  most 
respectful  and  affectionate  sympathy,  and  that  a  copy  be  entered 
c'li  the  minutes  of  ihe  Clerk. 


RESOLUTIONS  BY  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL. 


Whereas,  The  Rev.  John  C.  Lord  has  been  called  from  his 
earthly  career  to  his  heavenly  abode  and  reward,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  death  of  Dr.  Lord  removes  from  among  us 
one  of  the  most  devout  Christian  ministers  and  eminent  divines 
of  the  country. 

Resolved,  That  his  long,  useful  and  faithful  service  as  Pastor  of 
one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  Churches  of  the  city,  his  distinguished 
and  unquestioned  abilities,  his  many  Christian  virtues  and  his 
unselfish  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  the  community  in  which 
he  lived,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  make  his  loss  one  that  will 
be  sensibly  realized  by  a  large  circle  of  mourning  friends. 

Resolved,  That  the  Council  extend  its  sympathy  to  the  family 
and  friends  of  the  deceased,  in  this  their  irreparable  loss. 

Resolved,  That  the  Council  will  attend  the  funeral  of  the 
deceased,  as  the  last  fitting  tribute  it  can  pay  to  the  memory  of  the 
revered  dead,  before  his  remains  are  committed  to  their  mother 
earth. 

Resolved,  Tliat  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  the  minutes  of 
the  Council  and  a  copy  thereof  given  to  the  family  of  the 
deceased. 

Attest:  F.  F.  F.VRGO, 

City  Clerk. 


CONTENTS. 


Pacr. 

I.  Biographical  Sketch, 5 

II.  Funeral  Services, 44 

III.  Memorial  Sermon, 62 

IV.  Memoriai,  Paper, 87 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 


BY   REV.    CIIAS.    ^YOOD. 


There  is  a  letter,  still  carefully  preserved, 
written  from  Washington,  N.  H.,  on  September 
6th,  1805.  In  it  the  Rev.  John  Lord  announces 
the  birth  of  a  son  on  the  morning  of  the  9th 
of  August.  To  the  father's  name  was  added 
that  of  the  mother's  family,  and  the  child  was 
called  John  Chase  Lord.  When  he  was  five 
years  of  age  his  father  removed  to  Burlington, 
in  Otsego  count)%  of  this  State.  There  he 
attended  the  common  school,  from  which,  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  he  entered  the  Union  Acad- 
emy of  Plainfield,  N.  H.,  which  was  founded  by 
his  uncle,  the   Hon.   Daniel    Kimball. 

One  or  two  essays,  and  a  few  poems  in  an  old 
scrap-book,  are  the  only  relics  of  this  early  period 
of  his  life.  They  are  by  no  means  phenomenal. 
They  are  just  such  essays,  and  poems,  as  many 
a  boy  of  the  same  age,  now  studying  in  some 
high    school    or    academy,    will    write    this    year. 


6  MEMOIR   OF  JOIIX   C.  LORD. 

and  neither  the  writinijs,  nor  the  writer,  will  the 
world  ever  hear  of.  We  have  no  record  of 
what  books  he  read,  or  of  what  books  he  refused 
to  read.  He  was  not  a  John  Stuart  Mill,  criti- 
cising in  his  teens,  verbal  errors  in  the  accepted 
text  of  Sophocles,  or  Euripides;  neither  was  he 
a  Francis  Bacon,  elaborating  a  system  of  phi- 
losophy to  supersede  Aristotle's,  before  his  face 
showed  signs  of  a  beard.  He  was  a  thorough- 
going boy,  and  loved  just  such  books  as  ordinary 
boys  love.  At  this  school  he  remained  for  three 
years.  But  there  are  no  absolute  standards  of 
time :  the  boy  of  thirteen,  receives  more  im- 
pressions in  one  year,  than  the  man  of  forty,  in 
ten ;  and  these  few  years  spent  in  New  England, 
breathing  an  atmosphere  which,  theologically 
and  politicall)',  is  unique,  gave  a  coloring  to  his 
thought,  which  never  wholly  faded  awa}'. 

From  New  Hampshire,  he  went  to  Madison 
Academy — afterward  Madison  College.  But  he 
always  spoke  of  his  collegiate  course,  as  having 
begun  in  1822,  when  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
entered  Hamilton,  at  Clinton,  N.  Y. 

In  the  two  years  which  he  spent  there,  his 
intellectual  development  was  rapid.  His  literary 
efforts  began  to  give  promise  of  unusual  intellec- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  7 

tual  power.  His  poetry,  too — for  such  it  might 
now  be  called — evidenced  a  nature,  open  on  the 
emotional,  as  well  as  the  intellectual  side.  He 
was  fond  of  reading,  but  preferred  to  read  rather 
outside,  than  within  the  ordinary  curriculum,  and 
as  the  necessary  result,  he  never  took  the  rank  in 
his  class,  to  which  his  abilities  entitled  him.  He 
cared  nothing  for  the  athletic  sports  which  were 
then  working  their  way  toward  the  popularity  in 
which  they  are  now  so  strongly  intrenched.  Like 
Kingsley  at  Oxford,  and  Sumner  at  Harvard,  he 
left  behind  him  no  legends  of  marvellous  muscular 
feats.  It  may  be  doubted,  if  he  ever  handled  a 
bat,  or  vaulted  a  bar,  or  shot  a  gun. 

He  was  not  at  this  time  a  Christian.  Like 
Augustine  in  the  years  when  he  studied  at 
Carthage,  he  gave  promise  rather  of  an  enemy, 
than  a  friend  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  was 
never  dissolute,  but  during  his  collegiate  course, 
and  for  some  years  after,  he  was  thoroughly  indif- 
ferent, and  did  whatever  his  tastes  led  him  to 
believe  would  be  pleasurable.  He  staid  but  two 
years  at  Hamilton  ;  when  becoming  somewhat 
tired  of  the  routine  of  college  life,  and  longing  for 
a  field  where  he  could  at  once  make  use  of  the 
powers  of  which  he  was  becoming  conscious,  he 


8  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

left  very  suddenly,  with  a  classmate,  and  went 
to  Canada.  There  he  undertook  an  enterprise, 
which  at  that  time,  was  thoroughly  characteris- 
tic. He  became  editor-in-chief  of  a  newspaper, 
which  was  sent  out  through  the  Provinces  with 
the  irresistible  name  of  "  TJic  Canadiany  No 
copy  of  that  sheet  can  now  be  found  ;  but  we 
are  safe  in  believing,  that  however  uninteresting 
may  have  been  its  news  department,  its  edito- 
rials at  least,  would  be  read.  With  much  that 
was  crude,  there  must  have  been  a  ring,  and  snap 
to  the  rhetoric,  that  would  catch  the  eye,  and 
arrest  the  attention,  even  of  a  political  opponent.) 
Why  he  became  satisfied  with  a  single  year's 
experience  as  an  editor,  is  uncertain.  He  may 
have  found  that  in  his  undeveloped  mental 
condition,  the  draft  upon  his  energies  was 
too  great  ;  or,  which  is  perhaps  more  prob- 
able, "■The  CanadiatT'  brought  silver  so  slowly 
into  the  pockets  of  its  young  editors,  that  a 
change  was  felt  to  be  a  necessity.  This  latter 
supposition  is  borne  out  by  a  fact  which  he 
tells  us  in  his  diary,  that  he  came  to  Buffalo — • 
where  he  had  decided  to  make  his  future  home — • 
with  only  enough  money  for  one  meal,  and  a 
night's    lodging.      Almost    immediately    he    was 


BlOCiRAPIlICAL   SKETCH.  9 

admitted  into  the  office,  of  the  then  leacHnf;^ 
lawyers  of  Western  New  York,  Messrs.  Love  & 
Tracy.  He  must,  even  at  this  time,  have  had 
much  of  that  dignified,  and  winning  presence, 
which  afterwards  drew  around  him  so  many 
friends,  or  the  doors  of  that  office  would  never 
have  been  opened  to  him,  for  he  himself  was 
his  only  recommendation.  That  he  won  his  way 
rapidly  into  popular  favor  is  evident,  for  at  the 
celebration  of  the  Semi-Centennial  of  our  national 
existence,  he  was  chosen  to  voice  for  the  city,  the 
feelings  of  that  memorable  hour.  His  oration  is 
still  remembered  for  its  poetic  imagery  and  beau- 
tiful diction. 

What  Buffalo  was  in  that  year  of  1825,  is 
pictured  for  us  by  his  own  pen ;  in  his  Quarter 
Century  Sermon,  he  says:  "The  population  of 
the  then  village,  was  about  2,500.  At  that 
time,  that  part  l)'ing  east  of  Washington  street, 
was  an  almost  inaccessible  morass  ;  while  the 
territory  lying  west  of  Franklin,  and  north  of 
Chippewa  and  Niagara,  was  an  almost  un- 
broken forest,  where  the  huntsman  often  pur- 
sued the  game  abounding  in  the  primeval 
woods.  I  remember  well,  that  within  a  }'ear 
or  two   after    I    became    a    resident  of  this  city, 


lO  MEMOIR   OF   JOIIX   C.  LORD. 

an  enormous  panther  was  killed  a  little  be- 
yond North  street,  in  the  rear  of  what  was 
then  called  the  Cotton  farm.  Some  of  the  old 
residents  will  remember  that  the  captors  of  this 
formidable  animal,  one  of  unusual  dimensions, 
had  their  trophy  upon  exhibition,  at  the  old 
Farmers'  Hotel  on  Main  street,  for  some  time. 
During  the  first  year  of  my  residence  the  Erie 
Canal  was  completed.  I  saw  the  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  poured  into  Lake  Erie,  one  of  the 
ceremonies  of  the  celebration  of  the  great 
enterprise  which  united  the  lakes  with  the 
ocean.  Between  Buffalo,  and  Black  Rock,  there 
was  then  a  decided  rix'alry.  the  inhabitants  of 
these  two  villages  striving  manfully  to  fix  in 
their  respective  localities  the  focus  of  trade,  and 
exhibiting  toward  each  other  an  enmity  like  that 
anciently  existing  between  the  Jews,  and  the 
Samaritans.  Of  course,  the\'  could  not  celebrate 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal  together; 
hence  there  were  two  celebrations,  and  two  first 
boats  to  pass  from  the  lake  to  Albany  —  and 
which  should  take  the  precedence? — a  moment- 
ous question  at  the  time  !  I  do  not  now 
remember  whether  General  Porter,  the  Magnus 
Apollo  of   Black    Rock,  or  Judge  Wilkcson,  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  II 

Jupiter  Tonans  of  Buffalo,  arrived  first  at  the 
capital  of  the  State.  Happily,  these  contro- 
versies are  now  matters  of  history;  the  two 
rival  villages  are  utterly  lost  in  the  prosperous 
and  populous  city  which  has  absorbed  them 
both."  In  the  following  year,  for  the  purpose  of 
enlarging  somewhat  his  very  meagre  income,  he 
started  an  academic  school  on  Main  street,  near 
Clinton.  His  reputation  was  already  so  well 
established,  that  very  quickly  the  seats  in  his 
room,  were  filled  with  scholars.  Some  who 
were  that  winter  under  his  instruction,  are  still 
among  the  most  influential  men  of  our  city,  and 
have  cheerfully  given  their  testimony  to  his  abil- 
ities as  a  teacher.  In  1827,  he  was  made  Deputy 
Clerk  of  Erie  county;  and  on  February  19,  1828, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar. 

His  life  during  the  first  year  of  practice  was 
not  very  different  from  that  of  his  professional 
associates.  In  the  last  month  of  the  famous 
twelve  occurred  the  one  romance  of  his  life,  his 
marriage  to  Mary  E.  Johnson,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Ebenezer  Johnson,  afterwards  the  first  Mayor  of 
Buffalo.  This  was  an  elopement ;  but  it  was 
probably  the  most  dignified  elopement  that  has 
ever  taken    place    since    the   world    began.      For 


12  MEMOIR   OP^  JOHX   C.  LOUD. 

reasons,  ^\■hich  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  sub- 
sequently saw  were  insufficient,  they  had  opposed 
tlicir  daughter's  marriage.  Mr.  Lord  made  but 
little  effort  to  conceal  his  intention  of  carrying 
out  his  purpose,  and  the  wedding  was  witnessed 
by  a  large  number  of  the  leading  people  of  the 
village.  During  his  ministerial  life.  Dr.  Lord  had 
no  firmer  friends  than  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson. 

At  the  time  of  his  marriage,  he  was  a  very 
regular  attendant  upon  the  services  of  the  First, 
the  only  Presbyterian  Church  then  in  the  \il- 
lage.  lie  was  soon  elected  a  trustee,  and  took 
much  interest  in  the  temporal  welfare  of  the 
society.  He  was  unwilling  to  go  further.  To 
become  a  Christian,  required  sacrifices  which 
he  had  no  desire  to  make.  Some  phases  of 
the  religious  experience  through  which  he  soon 
passed,  have  been  preserved  on  the  pages  of  his 
journal.  It  was  a  strong  man's  struggle  with  a 
strong  will,  but  the  victory  was  complete.  When 
his  mother  was  told  that  her  son  had  offered 
prayer  in  one  of  the  church  meetings,  she  wept 
with  gladness,  and  said  that  her  greatest  wish 
had  been  granted  ;  her  son  had  become,  she  felt 
assured,  a  sincere  Christian,  and  she  was  ready 
to  depart  in  i)eace. 


BIOC.RArillCAL   SKETCH.  I  3 

There  was  still  another  struggle  before  him. 
He  began  to  feel  that  he  ought  to  become  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  not  easy  for 
him  to  relinquish  the  hopes  of  the  large  wealth 
which  he  saw  already  gathering.  But  he  was 
not  long  in  making  the  decision.  In  1831,  he 
entered  Auburn  Seminary,  for  the  study  of  the- 
ology. He  might,  in  a  few  months'  preparation, 
with  the  foundation  he  already  had,  have  been 
admitted  to  the  ministry  without  a  regular 
theological  course;  but  with  his  love  of  thor- 
oughness, he  refused  this  offer,  though  anxious 
to  commence  the  work  at  once. 

After  graduating  at  Auburn,  and  spending  a 
few  months  in  preaching  at  the  little  village  of 
Fayetteville,  in  this  State,  he  was  ordained,  and 
installed  over  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Gen- 
eseo,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  September,  1833. 
Of  the  character  of  his  preaching  at  this  time,  we 
may  judge  not  only  from  its  fruits,  which  were 
very  remarkable,  but  by  the  testimony  of  some 
who  sat  under  it.  It  was  thoroughly  evangelical. 
His  sermons  were  less  thoughtful,  but  not  less 
earnest,  than  after  his  removal  to  Buffalo,  where 
he  felt  the  spur  and  answered  to  it.  His  theolog- 
ical  stand-point  varied    but  little    from  the  time 


14  MF.MOIR   OK   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

when  lie  left  the  Seminar)',  to  the  hour  of  his 
death.  He  stood  firmly  on  the  creed  which  ]\Iil- 
ton  has  clothed  with  immortal  words  in  Paradise 
Lost;  which  Augustine,  and  Luther,  and  Calvin, 
and  Knox,  and  Bunyan,  and  Whitefield,  and  Rob- 
ert Hall  preached  with  a  power,  before  which 
selfishness  and  sin  slunk  away  abashed.  He  was 
intensely  orthodox  according  to  the  Genevan 
standards.  His  faith  was  not  born  of  ignorance, 
but  of  the  travail  of  a  mind,  too  honest  to  reject 
any  portion  of  a  creed,  of  which  Mr.  Froude  says, 
when  comparing  it  with  other  theological  systems, 
"Calvinism  is  nearer  to  the  facts,  however  harsh 
or  foreboding  those  facts  may  seem." 

If  his  statement  of  doctrine  was  of  such  form, 
and  flavor,  as  to  recall  the  preaching  of  the  six- 
teenth centur\',  it  was  not  that  he  differed  in 
belief  from  the  vast  majority  of  the  reformed 
clergy  of  his,  or  the  present  da}',  rather  that  he 
was  unwilling  to  re-translate,  into  more  modern 
forms,  the  truths  which  had  been  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  Scotland  and  England,  both  the  Old 
and  New.  Our  English  Bible  to-day,  is  a  very 
different  book  in  appearance,  from  that  which 
King  James'  translators  gave  to  the  world.  The 
words  have  altered  their  form,  though  every  sen- 


■    BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  1 5 

tcnce  speaks  the  same  truth  now,  as  then.  Dr. 
Lord  loved  the  old,  better  than  the  new.  He 
feared,  and  there  was  sufficient  cause,  that  in  the 
sentences,  whose  form  was  novel,  false  doctrine 
might  without  suspicion  be  embodied.  All  his 
life  long,  he  loved  to  seek  the  old  paths,  and 
walk  in  them.  If  he  ever  allowed  himself  less 
liberty  than  would  have  been  lawful,  he  was 
more  than  compensated  for  his  loss,  in  the 
straiehtness  of  his  course,  and  the  steadiness  of 
his  step. 

While  he  worked  on  at  Geneseo,  the  progress 
of  events  in  Buffalo,  was  causing  the  way  to  be 
opened  for  his  return  to  the  city  in  Avhich  he 
had  been  known  only  as  a  lawyer,  and  a  teacher. 
In  1835  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  had  sent 
out  a  colony.  The  Presbytery  of  Buffalo  organ- 
ized these  thirty-three  members  into  a  society, 
with  the  name  of  the  Pearl  Street  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  on  November  15th,  of  the  same 
year.  They  were  holding  their  services  in  a 
building  which  Dr.  Lord  himself  has  thus  de- 
scribed :  "  The  edifice  was  rudely  constructed  of 
hemlock  boards  doubled  upon  scantling,  and 
filled  in  with  tan-bark.  Its  cost  was  about  three 
hundred  dollars."  By  this  society,  a  unanimous 
and  hearty  call  was  placed    in    his    hands.     Un- 


l6  MK.MOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

willing  as  lie  was,  to  leave  the  people  to  whom 
he  had  become  greatly  attached,  hoping  that  in 
time  he  woidd  be  able  to  fulfill  his  long-cherished 
plan  of  w^orking  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
he  yet  felt  that  this  was  an  opportunity  of  such 
large  usefulness  that  he  dare  not  refuse  it.  The 
call  was  accepted.  He  preached  his  first  sermon 
in  his  new  charge,  in  the  month  of  No\'ember, 
1835.  In  a  year  from  that  time,  the  prosperous 
young  society  had  completed  a  church  building, 
at  a  cost  of  some  thirty  thousand  dollars.  It 
was  of  a  form  so  peculiar,  as  to  be  still  vi\'idly 
remembered  by  all  who  ever  worshipped  within 
its  walls.  Built  in  the  shape  of  an  egg,  lighted 
from  above,  it  was  considered  by  a  newspaper 
correspondent  of  the  time,  to  be  "  not  unlike  the 
famous  city  Temple  of  London." 

But  the  pastor  soon  became  more  famous 
than  the  church.  His  preaching  forced  atten- 
tion even  from  those  who  were  able  to  sleep 
through  the  musical  services,  which,  by  the  aid 
of  a  well-trained  choir,  and  so  large  a  number 
of  musical  instruments  that  they  were  popularK^ 
called  a  "  brass  band,"  were  by  no  means  un- 
imposing.  His  thought  ^\■as  original,  and  his 
courage    in    attacking    the    popular   sins    of    the 


IJIOGRArillCAL    SKE'li'II.  I7 

people,  was  leonine.  The  famous  French  preach- 
ers, were  not  more  fearless  than  was  he.  During 
his  ministry,  his  life  was  more  than  once  threat- 
ened by  men  who  knew  no  other  way  to  silence 
a  tongue,  whose  arguments  they  could  not  answer. 

He  was  a  rapid  writer,  for  all  his  life  long  he 
was  as  great  a  lover  of  books,  almost  as  Macaulay 
himself,  and  he  was  full  of  information  on  nearly 
every  subject.  Facts,  and  theories,  had  not 
been  tumbled  so  hurriedly,  or  promiscuously  into 
the  corners  of  his  brain  that  only  a  laborious 
process  of  digging  could  exhume  them.  His 
kno\\ledge  was  ticketed ;  what  he  wanted  he 
knew  where  to  find  at  once.  His  mind  was 
trained  to  do  its  best,  without  being  whipped 
to  its  task.  Many  of  his  most  eloquent  sermons 
and  addresses,  were  prepared  so  quickly,  that  from 
the  pen  of  a  man  less  thoroughly  well  informed, 
they  would  have  been  superficial,  and  uninter- 
esting. "  He  writes  rapidly,"  says  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  "  who  writes  out  of  his  own  head,"  and 
Dr.  Lord  was  one  who  had  rarely  to  refer  to  a 
book,  after  he  took  liis  seat  at  his  desk. 

In  the  city  of  which  he  had  now  become  a  res- 
ident for  the  second  time,  he  felt  an  interest  which 
never  shrank.      He   loved    Ikiffalo  ;    he   loved   to 


1 8  MEMOIR   OF  JOIIX   C.  LORD. 

praise  her  beautiful  streets,  and  to  hear  others 
praise  them.  Among  his  poems,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  a  volume  in  1869,  he  has  not  forgotten 
to  sound  her  honor. 

Queen  of  the  Lakes,  whose  tributary  seas 

Stretch  from   the  frozen  regions  of  the  Nortli 

To   Southern  climates,   where    the  wanton  breeze 
O'er  field  and  forest  goes  rejoicing  fortli. 

As  Venice,  to  the  Adriatic  Sea 

Was  wedded,  in  her  brief,  but  glorious  day; 
So  broader,  purer  waters,  are  to  thee. 

To  whom  a  thousand  streams,  a  dowry  pay. 

What  tho'  the  wild  winds  o'er  thy   waters  sweep. 
While  lingering  Winter,  howls  along  thy  shore, 

And  solemnly  "deep  calleth  unto  deep," 
While  storm  and  cataract  responsive  roar. 

'Tis  music  fitting  for  the  brave  and  free. 

Where  Enterprise  and  Commerce  vex  the  waves  ; 

The  soft  voluptuous  airs  of  Italy 

Breathe  among  ruins,  and  are  woo'd  by  slaves. 

Thou  art  the  Sovereign  City  of  the  Lakes, 

Crowned  and  acknowledged  ;  may  thy  fortunes  be 

Vast  as  the  domain  which  thine  empire  takes. 
And  onward  as  thy  waters  to  the  sea. 

Mis    affection     for    Buffalo    was    shown    not    in 
poetry  alone.      To    her  he    bequeathed  his  mag- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  I9 

nificcnt    library    of    several     thousand    volumes, 
containing  many  rare  and  valuable  works. 

No  one  of  her  citizens  was  more  often  called 
upon    than    he,  to    speak    as    her    representative, 
upon  occasions  when  an  oration  was  demanded. 
Such    requests    were    never    refused,    though    by 
them,  his  energies,  strained  already  in  his  heavy 
professional    duties,    were    at    times   sorely    over- 
taxed.     By   his    Presbytery,    he    was    sent    as   a 
representative  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1836, 
the  last  truly  oecumenical  council  of  the  denom- 
ination which  was  to  meet  till  1870.     The  sepa- 
ration which  had  long  been  widened  between  the 
two  parties  of  the  Church,  was  consummated  in 
1837,  when  two  organizations  were  formed,  which 
were  popularly  called  "Old  "  and  "  New"  School. 
That  he  would  feel  more  in  sympathy  with  the 
conservatives  of  the  old  school,  was  made  certain 
by  all  his  methods  of  thought.     For  a  score  of 
years,  his  Church  stood  alone  as  the  representative 
of  that  type  of  Presbyterianism  in  Buffalo.    But  no 
one  rejoiced  more  heartily  than  he,  when  in  1869 
the  two  "  schools  "  were  merged  into  one  Presby- 
terian Church. 

He  was  ready  to  raise  his  voice  in  protest,  when- 
ever he  saw  an\'  deserting  the  forms  of  faith,  to 


20  MEMOIR    OF   JOHN   C.  LOUD. 

wliich  he  was  so  intense!)'  attached,  both  b}'  edu- 
cation, and  conviction.  Those  were  days  in  which 
a  man  of  courage  and  individuahty,  who  would  not 
be  swept  along  with  the  crowd,  had  to  sleep  with 
his  armor  on.  The  land  was  overrun  with  theologi- 
cal and  philosophical  freebooters,  who  were  terrible 
as  destructive,  but  feeble  as  constructive  forces. 
There  Avas  no  ark  that  they  feared  to  touch. 
There  was  no  altar  which  they  respected.  In 
France,  Comte  had  crushed  and  mangled — so  it 
was  believed — all  existing  systems  of  theology, 
and  ignoring  even  the  fragments,  had  built  up,  of 
freshly-hewn  stones,  something  which  was  called 
the  "Religion  of  Humanity."  In  England,  many 
had  become  disciples  of  the  French  Positivist. 
Harriet  Martineau  \\'as  preparing  to  write  the 
"  Atkinson  Letters."  The  nature  of  man  was 
being  restudied,  and  results  were  reached,  that 
were  subversive  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  and 
of  personal  responsibility.  Oxford  was  torn  with 
the  dissensions  of  Ritualist  and  Evangelical. 
Brothers — like  the  Newmans — were  separating, 
one  turning  to  the  Romish  Church,  the  other  to 
Atheism.  Here  in  America,  the  foundations  of 
men's  faith  \\-cre  being  as  rudely  shaken.  In 
Boston,    Theodore     Parker,     with     an     eloquence 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  21 

seldom  surpassed,  was  drawing  crowds  of  young 
men  away  from  orthodox}^,  and  giving  them,  in 
its  stead,  beautiful  words,  and  inspiring  moral 
precepts,  but  no  atonement  for  sin,  no  assured 
hope  beyond  the  grave. 

The  young  pastor  of  the  Pearl  Street  Church 
had  eyes  and  ears  open.  He  knew  what  was 
going  on  in  the  great  world.  He  was  not  one 
to  stand  idly,  witnessing  the  encroachment  of 
what  he  believed  to  be  fatal  errors,  and  utter 
no  warning.  He  spoke  plainly  in  his  sermons 
to  young  men,  a  volume  of  which  was  published 
in  1838,  and  he  spoke  with  equal  plainness  in 
his  more  public  discourses,  and  lectures.  In  an 
address  delivered  before  the  students  of  Ham- 
ilton College,  he  says : 

"  In  the  nineteenth  century,  the  grand  hin- 
drance to  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be 
found  in  the  perversion,  obscuration,  or  open 
denial  of  the  supernatural  element  of  Christian- 
ity. The  philosophy  of  Locke  and  his  followers, 
and  of  Hobbes  and  Bentham,  who  have  super- 
added the  utilitarian  scheme  to  the  materialism 
of  the  former,  are  thought  by  their  admirers  to 
have  disenchanted  the  universe  of  the  spiritual 
and  supernatural.  There  is  no  longer  a  'divinity 
3 


22  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

that  stirs  within  us,'  or  without  us.  The  innate 
and  ideal  are  consigned  to  the  tomb  of  the 
Capulets,  and  the  mine  and  the  cotton  factory- 
are  the  divinities  of  mountain  and  rivulet.  Of 
the  effect  of  this  philosophy  upon  the  fine  arts, 
this  is  not  the  time  nor  place  to  speak ;  it  is 
enough  to  say,  that  this  philosophy  is  more 
grossly  material  than  the  polytheistic,  which, 
though  it  could  not  elevate  man  religiously,  at 
least  preserved  his  reverence  for  the  super- 
natural, his  conceptions  of  the  ideal,  and  gave 
to  the  world  those  miracles  of  art,  or,  to  use 
the  words  of  one  of  our  own  poets: 

'  Those  forms  of  beauty  seen  no  more, 
Yet  once  to  art's  rapt  vision  given.'  " 

From  1840,  to  1850,  his  thought  rapidl}'  ripened, 
but  lost  nothing  of  its  freshness,  and  elasticit}-.  In 
1 841,  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  his  alma  mater,  Hamilton,  was  conferred  upon 
him.  During  these  years  he  received  more  invita- 
tions than  he  could  accept,  from  literary  associa- 
tions of  the  towns,  and  cities,  to  deliver  lectures. 
Few  men  at  that  time  could  call  together  a  larger 
audience ;  very  few  gave  their  audiences  as  solid, 
or  acceptable  mental  pabulum.  His  lectures  on 
"  The  Land  of  Ophir,"  "  The  Progress  of  Civil- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  23 

ization,"  "  The  Star  Aldebaran,"  "  The  War  of 
the  Titans,"  and  "The  Romance  of  History," 
were  famous  throi-ighout  this,  and  the  neighbor- 
ing States.  A  number  of  them,  gathered  into  a 
vokime,  were  published  in  185 1.  That  these 
platform  utterances  were  not  for  amusement 
alone,  the  reading  of  a  single  page  of  any  of 
them  would  be  sufficient  evidence.  At  the  close 
of  his  lecture  on  "  The  Star  Aldebaran,"  after  a 
beautiful  description  of  what  that  star  has  looked 
upon  in  the  past,  and  what  it  may  look  upon  in 
the  cycles  of  the  future,  he  says  : 

"  Thy  grave,  O  hearer,  shall  Aldebaran  watch 
when  the  fire  of  thine  eye  is  quenched,  when  the 
bloom  on  thy  cheek  has  faded,  and  guard  the 
portals  of  thy  grave,  until  the  day  when  the 
Master  of  Life  shall  cast  down  the  throne,  and 
break  the  dominion  of  Death.  Thy  spirit  will 
soon  leave  its  house  of  clay,  and  pass  out  upon 
the  universe,  and  perchance,  to  this  distant  star 
thou  mayest  wing  thine  uninterrupted  way  ;  and, 
bethink  thee,  as  thou  surveyest  its  glories,  that 
its  light  is  resting  upon  the  remote  planet  of 
thy  birth,  and  glistening  upon  the  marble  that 
affection  has  reared  to  thy  memory — over  the 
deserted  and  decaying  tabernacle  that  enshrined 
thy  soul,  and  which  is  again  to  receive  it  when 


24  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

raised  a  spiritual,  and  incorruptible  bod}',  by  that 
word  of  power,  that  from  emptiness,  and  noth- 
ingness, from  darkness  and  chaos,  summoned  at 
the  beginning,  matter  and  motion,  light  and 
life." 

In  his  equally  famous  lecture  on  the  "Ro- 
mance of  History,"  having  described  the  origin 
and  results  of  the  Crusades,  in  sentences  which 
are  almost  as  rhythmical  as  blank  verse,  he  asks : 

"  How  is  it  that  the  Christian,  and  the  Hebrew 
have  alike  suffered  the  soil  sacred  to  both,  to 
remain  cursed  by  Mahomedan  hordes,  and  all 
her  sacred  places  dishonored,  and  blasphemed 
by  the  sign  of  the  crescent  ?  There  is  no  other 
explanation  than  the  prophecies  of  the  Bible, 
which  declare  that  Judea  must  remain  in  the 
hands  of  the  spoiler,  and  the  abomination  of 
desolation  continue  in  the  holy  place,  until  the 
set  time  for  the  return  of  the  Hebrew,  when  he 
shall  acknowledge  him  whom  his  fathers  cruci- 
fied ;  and  so  to-day,  the  Mosque  of  Omar  stands 
on  the  site  of  the  temple,  and  the  Christian 
pilgrim  must  pay  a  price  to  behold  the  sacred 
places  of  Jerusalem  ;  he  must  undergo  the  scru- 
tiny of  a  bearded  Turk  before  he  can  kneel  at 
the  sepulchre  of  the  Saviour." 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  2$ 

Of  the  year  1849,  '^vhen  the  city  was  shrouded 
for  many  months  in  gloom,  he  speaks  in  his 
Quarter  Century  Sermon : 

"During  my  ministry  in  this  city,  we  have  at 
various  times  been  visited  by  the  pestilence 
which  walketh  in  darkness.  No  advent  of  the 
cholera  during  my  pastorate,  has  been  so  severe 
as  that  of  1849.  This  disease  commenced  its 
ravages  early  in  June  of  that  year,  and  did  not 
wholly  disappear  before  the  month  of  November. 
At  times,  the  number  of  deaths  was  from  forty 
to  fifty  in  a  day.  A  general  gloom  spread  over 
the  city ;  men  looked  anxiously  in  each  other's 
faces;  those  who  were  in  full  health  to-day 
were  coffined  on  the  morrow.  Every  day  the 
names  of  some  well-known  citizens  were  cat- 
alogued among  the  dead.  Many  who  were  at- 
tacked and  recovered,  were  reported  for  a  time 
as  deceased.  More  than  once  I  was  saluted 
joyfully  in  the  streets  by  some  friend  who  had 
heard  that  I  was  dead.  It  was  in  truth,  a  time 
of  mourning,  lamentation  and  woe  ;  and  the  sad- 
ness of  the  people  ^^'as  like  that  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews  in  the  valley  of  Hadad-rimmon.  The 
remembrances  of  that  disastrous  summer  will 
never  be  effaced  from  my  mind." 


26  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

He  began  the  year  1850  with  a  New  Year's 
Sermon,  from  which  an  extract  was  widely  copied 
for  its  beauty  by  the  newspapers : 

"  The  impressions  made  upon  the  sands  by  the 
current  of  human  actions  and  human  passions 
during  the  year  that  is  past,  are  now  hardened 
and  fixed  in  stone.  As  the  soft  substance  of 
clay,  receiving  the  impression  of  the  waters  and 
marking  their  motion,  course  and  flow,  becomes 
at  length  a  rock,  whose  imperishable  engravings 
are  read  by  succeeding  generations ;  and  as  the 
growth  and  products  of  trees  and  plants,  and  the 
anatomy  of  animals  of  different  ages,  make  their 
impressions  in  the  earth,  which,  anon,  hardening 
into  stone,  reveals  their  forms  and  characteristics 
to  subsequent  periods,  so  the  tablets  of  time 
passed,  retain  and  reveal  the  actions,  the  passions, 
the  events,  which  are  to  be  fully  disclosed  when 
the  strata  shall  be  broken  up,  and  the  deposit  of 
different  ages,  and  every  race,  shall  be  read  in 
the  great  day  of  final  revelation.  This  is  the 
true  eternity  of  temporal  things.  Who  would 
think  that  the  yielding  sand,  in  which  the  foot- 
step of  the  passer-by  leaves  its  impression,  should 
reveal  that  foot-print  a  thousand  years  afterwards, 
to  the  men  of  a  remote  Lfcneration?     Who  would 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  2/ 

believe,  unless  it  had  been  so  abundantly  proven, 
that  the  figures,  wrought  in  the  soft  clay  made 
in  sport,  which  the  next  rain  might  be  expected 
to  wash  away,  should  appear  in  another  age, 
graven  in  a  rock  as  with  a  pen  of  iron  ?  These 
results  science  has  demonstrated  in  the  natural 
world.  They  are  in  the  moral  world  indicated 
by  experience,  and  attested  by  revelation.  What 
an  extraordinary  and  beautiful  analogy  is  this. 
As  in  the  natural  world  the  most  minute  traces 
of  the  lowest  forms  of  life  and  action,  are  dis- 
closed by  a  process  at  once  universal  and  exact ; 
so,  the  words  we  speak,  the  thoughts  we  con- 
ceive, the  actions  we  perform,  falling  upon  the 
sand  remain  fixed  in  an  eternal  record.  Philos- 
ophers say,  that  the  earth  retains  and  reverber- 
ates every  uttered  sound  forever.  We  make  our 
thoughts,  our  words  and  our  actions,  in  time,  our 
companions  through  eternity.  With  what  impor- 
tance does  this  view  clothe  the  life  that  now  is ; 
with  what  power  the  things,  which  we  are  apt  to 
regard  as  idle  dreams,  which  seem  to  perish  as 
they  pass,  but  whose  shadows,  falling  on  the  cur- 
tains of  eternity,  are  fastened  forever.  What  an 
event  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  year,  in  which 
we   are   to  write    for  the  world   to   come   on   the 


28  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

strata  of  which — to  pursue  our  geological  figure 
— all  actions  are  to  be  graven,  as  with  the  point 
of  a  diamond  upon  a  tablet  of  adamant,  for  an 
everlasting  record.  How  do  these  thoughts  dig- 
nify the  passing  moment,  and  the  passage  of  the 
years  of  time,  on  whose  fleeting  sands  are  writ- 
ten the  enduring  records,  which,  for  good  or  ill, 
we  are  to  read  throughout  the  cycles  of  our 
endless  existence." 

It  was  also  in  this  year,  on  Thanksgiving  Day, 
that  he  delivered  the  most  memorable  discourse 
of  his  life.  If  the  Church  of  that  day,  was  called 
to  pass  through  struggles  which  some  feared,  and 
many  hoped  would  end  in  death  ;  the  State,  had 
reached  a  crisis  not  less  momentous.  In  1620, 
a  Dutch  trading-vessel  landed  twenty  negro  slaves 
in  Virginia.  What  prophet  could  then  have  fore- 
told the  stupendous  issues  which  hung  upon  that 
apparently  insignificant  event  ? 

In  1850,  all  men  saw  that  the  permanenc}^  of 
the  republic  was  imperiled  from  one  cause  alone  — 
the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States. 
The  South  was  solid  in  its  determination  to 
maintain  a  s)\stcm  which  had  made  her  planters 
wealth)',  and  which  promised  more  in  the  future, 
than  in  the  past.       The  North  was  di\-itled,  b)'  no 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  29 

means  equally.  A  large  and  influential  portion 
sympathized  with  the  South,  on  the  ground,  that 
slavery  was  constitutional.  Another  large  body 
of  Northern  citizens  wished  for  the  abandonment 
of  all  enforced  labor,  but  saw  no  way  in  which 
it  could  be  done.  There  was  beside,  a  small, 
but  now  rapidly-increasing  number  of  so-called 
abolitionists.  They  believed  slavery  to  be  the 
gangrene  on  the  body  politic,  and  like  John 
Brown,  many  of  them  were  ready  to  shed  their 
blood,  if  by  no  other  means,  the  foul  spot  could 
be  removed.  Some  of  these  were  men  true  and 
noble.  Some  of  them  were  over-zealous,  and 
reckless  as  to  the  instruments  they  used  in  the 
consummation  of  their  desires. 

A  Fugitive  Slave  Law  had  been  enacted  on 
September  18,  1850,  which  authorized  the  slave- 
holder to  arrest  and  seize  his  fugitive  slaves  in 
any  State  of  the  Union.  No  law  was  ever  more 
thoroughly  discussed  or  more  bitterly  opposed. 
It  was  the  one  subject  of  which  men  spoke  to 
each  other,  as  they  met  on  the  streets  and  in  their 
places  of  business.  It  was  to  be  expected,  that  a 
clergyman  of  decided  opinions,  would  make  use 
of  the  opportunity  offered  by  a  service  of  a  na- 
tional character,  to  discuss  a  question  so  impor- 


30  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

tant  in  all  its  bearings.  Dr.  Lord  was  one  who 
had  the  most  intense  reverence  for  "  the  powers 
that  be."  He  believed  them  ordained  of  God. 
"We  take  the  ground,"  said  he  in  that  sermon, 
"  that  the  action  of  civil  governments  within  their 
appropriate  jurisdiction,  is  final  and  conclusive 
upon  the  citizen."  From  this  premise  he  drew 
the  conclusion,  that  unless  it  could  be  proven, 
that  God  has  never  permitted  slavery  under  any 
circumstances,  no  citizen  has  a  right  to  resist 
laws  which  recognize  and  protect  that  institu- 
tion. The  sermon  was  printed,  and  widely  dis- 
tributed, and  read,  and  misunderstood.  It  was 
believed  that  it  opened  the  way  for  governmental 
anarchy;  that  it  would  authorize  a  government 
in  making  theft,  and  arson,  and  murder,  legal  or 
obligatory.  He  had  written  "the  action  of  civil 
governments  within  their  appropriate  jurisdic- 
tion" is  final;  but  in  the  heat  of  controversy, 
men  leaped  to  conclusions,  and  Dr.  Lord  was 
called  a  Judas,  and  a  Benedict  Arnold.  That  his 
sermon  not  only  expressed  the  opinion  of  a  large 
number  of  the  most  highly-respected  men  of  the 
countr}',  but  expressed  it  with  a  logical  force  sur- 
passing all  similar  pamphlets,  is  attested  b}'  many 
letters  which  were  received  when  the  discussion, 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  3 1 

caused  by  its  publication,  was  at  its  height.  Dr. 
Spencer,  a  clergyman  of  Brooklyn  whose  reputa- 
tion was  national,  wrote  him  of  the  discourse  in 
terms  of  highest  commendation.  "  It  is  the  clear- 
est exposition  of  the  truth  we  have  yet  had,"  he 
said.  From  Washington,  President  Fillmore  sent 
the  following  letter: 

Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  13,  185 1. 
Rev.  J.  C.  Lord, 

J/f  Dear  Sir  :  "  The  cares  of  state"  leave  me 
no  time  for  general  reading,  and  it  was  not  till 
this  evening,  that  I  found  leisure  to  peruse  your 
admirable  sermon  on  the  "  Higher  Law  and 
Fugitive  Slave  Bill."  I  return  you  my  thanks, 
most  cordially  and  sincerely,  for  this  admirable 
discourse.  You  have  rendered  the  nation  a  great 
and  valuable  service,  and  I  am  highly  gratified 
to  learn,  that  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
have  been  reprinted  in  New  York,  and  sent  here, 
and  are  now  being  distributed  under  the  franks 
of  members  of  Congress.  It  cannot  fail  to  do 
good.  It  reaches  a  class  of  people  of  excellent 
intentions,  but  somewhat  bigoted  prejudices,  who 
could    be    reached    in    no    other   way.      Again    I 


32  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

thank   you    for    the   service    you    have   done    my 
countr)',  and  am 

Truly  yours, 

Millard  Fillmore. 

Ten  years  later,  like  Dr.  Lord  himself,  nearly 
all  who  had  then  sympathized  most  cordially  with 
him,  became  known  as  earnest  advocates  of  the 
Union.  In  many  instances  the  same  principles 
w^ere  held,  but  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States,  reversed  the  conclusions  which  had  been 
reached  under  very  different  circumstances. 

By  the  General  Assembly  which  met  in  1852,  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  he  was  elected  moderator  by 
acclamation,  an  honor  which  has  been  conferred 
upon  but  few.  Early  in  the  same  year,  the  new 
church  edifice,  whose  foundations  had  been  laid 
in  1848,  at  the  time  of  the  sale  of  the  egg-shaped 
building,  was  dedicated,  as  the  Central  Presby- 
terian Church,  a  name  which  for  reasons  then 
considered  sufficient,  had  been  substituted  for 
that  of  Pearl  Street.  The  new  church  audi- 
torium was  at  that  time,  the  largest  west  of  New 
York,  but  it  was  crowded,  even  to  the  aisles,  for 
many  Sabbath  evenings  in  succession,  during  the 
series    of  sermons,  which    it    was    his    custom  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  33 

deliver  in  the  winter  months.  Those  on  the 
"Connection  of  Sacred  and  Profane  History"  are 
still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  people.  Near  the 
close  of  one  of  these,  on  the  "  Descendants  of 
Ishmael,"  occurs  a  description  so  beautiful,  that 
we  will  make  this  page  the  amber  to  preserve  it, 
for  the  enjoyment  of  all  who  shall  ever  read  this 
sketch. 

"  Over  what  sacred  monuments  does  the  Ish- 
maelite,  their  divinely-appointed  guardian,  keep 
watch  and  ward.  He  waits  by  Hor,  where  Aaron 
reposes  in  his  last  sleep,  and  conducts  the 
traveler  amid  the  eternal  solitudes  of  desert,  and 
mountain,  to  Jebel  Haroun,  or  Aaron's  Mount, 
and  shows  him  the  sepulchre  of  the  Hebrew 
priest.  Sinai  rises  from  the  desert,  with  the  same 
abrupt  majesty,  as  when,  from  its  fire-clad  sum- 
mits, God  uttered  the  law.  There  still  is  the  vast 
ampitheatre  where  the  children  of  Israel,  tremb- 
ling with  fear,  beheld  the  solid  mountain  move 
at  the  touch  of  its  Maker,  its  summit  crowned 
with  thunders,  its  foundation  shaken  by  earth- 
quakes, and  heard  the  words  of  the  first  covenant 
proclaimed,  amid  blackness,  and  tempest  in  the 
tones  of  Omnipotence,   and   with   the  sound    of 


34  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

that  trumpet,  ^\•hich  hoard  once  more,  shall  wake 
the  dead  and  summon  them  to  the  judi,niient  of 
the  eternal  law  to  whose  annunciation  it  gave 
witness.  The  Arab  guards  this  awful  monument, 
his  shout  alone  breaks  the  solitudes  of  Jebel  et 
Tur,  the  bells  of  his  camels,  alone  disturb  the 
perpetual  silence  which  Sinai  keeps,  since  from 
her  granite  precipices  God  uttered  his  voice. 
The  wild  man  of  the  desert  guides  the  traveler 
to  Horeb,  the  Mount  of  condemnation,  where, 
awestruck,  he  gazes  upon  the  rocks  which  seem 
to  have  been  fashioned  in  their  wild  and  savage 
grandeur  for  the  utterance  of  the  Law  in  the 
ears  of  the  apostate  children  of  Adam.  To  the 
prophetical  nation,  who  retain  unchanged,  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Patriarchs,  is  com- 
mitted the  custody,  not  only  of  the  sacred  places 
within  their  own  tcrritor)^  but  of  the  adjacent 
soil.  Over  Palestine,  the  Arab  wanders,  like  a 
spectre  of  the  past.  He  waters  his  camels  at  the 
wells  of  Isaac  and  Jacob,  he  haunts  that  wavcless 
lake  wliich  entombs  the  cities  of  the  plains,  the 
onl}'  living  thing  in  that  valley  of  death,  so  judg- 
ment smitten,  that  time,  which  changes  all,  has 
left  untouched  its  Dead  Sea,  in  which  is  found  no 
form  of  life,  and  its  blasted  borders,  upon   which 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  35 

no  dew  falls,  or  rain  from  heaven  to  water  the 
parched  and  desolate  earth.  As  he  flits  around 
the  sea  of  death,  so  he  guards  the  city  of  the 
dead,  the  rock-bound  fortress  of  Edom.  He 
dwells  in  all  the  places  of  Israel,  and  Esau,  the 
living  likeness  of  the  past,  beside  its  hallowed 
tombs,  the  present  witness,  verifying  the  inscrip- 
tions upon  its  ancient  monuments,  the  sole 
abiding  representative  of  Abraham,  remaining  on 
the  soil  rendered  sacred  to  all  time,  and  to  all 
generations,  by  the  utterance  there,  of  the  Divine 
Oracles,  by  the  manifestation  of  the  powers  of 
the  world  to  come,  by  the  advent  and  expiation 
of  the  Son  of  God." 

It  had  been  his  custom,  to  preach  year  after 
year  without  any  vacation.  During  the  winter 
of  1859-60,  feeling  the  need  of  a  change,  he 
spent  six  months,  by  leave  of  absence  from  his 
Church,  in  Mobile.  The  time  w^as  used  not  in 
recuperation  alone.  He  preached  every  Sabbath 
at  the  Government  Street  Church.  This  was  his 
only  absence  from  his  parish,  during  his  whole 
pastorate  of  thirty-eight  }'ears.  He  returned  from 
Mobile  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
war.  While  the  conflict  lasted  between  the 
North  and  South,  he  never    wa\'ered    in    his  ad- 


36  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

herancc  to  the  Northern  cause.  Right,  and  law, 
he  beHeved,  were  with  her  armies,  and  with  that 
behef,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to 
have  taken  any  other  position,  than  the  one  he 
so  firmly  held,  and  so  eloquently  advocated  till 
peace  was  declared. 

That  one  who  had  long  filled  so  prominent  a 
position,  would  often  be  urged  to  accept  invita- 
tions to  some  other  field  of  labor,  was  to  be  ex- 
pected ;  but  the  calls  which  he  received,  whether 
to  other  pastorates,  or  to  occupy  a  professor's 
chair  in  a  theological  seminary,  were  declined, 
with  but  one  exception,  that  from  a  Church  in 
Pittsburgh,  without  any  interruption  whatever  in 
his  relationship  to  his  own  Church.  But  in  this 
instance  he  was  entreated  so  heartily  to  remain, 
by  his  own  people,  and  many  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  Buffalo,  that  he  felt  it  right  to  refuse  the 
call  from  that  center  of  Old  School  Presbyter- 
ianism.  From  1868-70  he  began  to  feel,  as  he 
had  not  before,  that  his  pastoral  duties,  were 
somewhat  overburdcnsome.  He  was  not  one  to 
complain  ;  and  only  after  his  people  had  made, 
and  pressed  the  request  did  he  give  his  consent 
to  the  calling  of  a  colleague.  The  Rev.  A.  L. 
Benton,  of  Lima,  N.  Y.,  accepted  the  request  of 


BIOGRArHICAL   SKETCH.  37 

the  Central  Church,  and  became  in  1870  his  co- 
pastor.  Of  him  Dr.  Lord  never  failed  to  speak  in 
terms  of  high  commendation.  This  relationship 
was  severed  in  1872,  by  Mr.  Benton's  acceptance 
of  a  call  from  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Fre- 
donia,  N.  Y.,  where  he  is  still  laboring  among  a 
united  people,  with  much  success.  It  was  now 
Dr.  Lord's  request,  that  the  Church  should  ac- 
cept his  resignation,  so  that  the  pastorate  might 
be  given  entirely  into  the  hands  of  his  successor. 
With  great  reluctance,  this  request  was  at  last 
granted;  and  in  September,  1873,  the  relationship 
which  had  existed  for  nearly  forty  years  was 
dissolved. 

During  the  few  years  which  remained  to  him 
his  failing  powers  were  cheerfully  used  to  further 
every  cause  of  righteousness  and  mercy.  The 
last  extended  journey  of  his  life,  was  to  Cleve- 
land, as  a  Commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly, 
an  appointment  which  he  had  desired,  in  order 
that,  by  his  influence,  resolutions  might  there  be 
adopted,  recognizing  and  commending,  the  work 
of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  that 
organization,  and  was  always  one  of  its  most 
hearty  and  liberal  supporters. 


38  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

While  health  permitted,  he  was  a  regular 
attendant  upon  the  services  of  the  Church,  ^^•here 
he  had  so  long  preached  the  word,  and  no  more 
sympathetic  or  uncritical  hearer  ever  sat  in  its 
pews.  His  happiness  was  great  whenever  a  meas- 
ure of  success  was  granted  to  his  successor.  His 
most  earnest  efforts  were  exerted  by  voice,  and 
act,  to  enlarge,  to  the  measure  of  his  hope,  the 
prosperity  for  which  he  offered  most  fervent 
prayers.  All  this  he  did  in  a  manner  so  unas- 
suming and  beautiful,  as  to  win  the  admiration 
and  love,  of  many  to  whom  he  had  never  before 
revealed  the  more  tender  side  of  his  nature. 
For  he  was  a  man,  whose  character  was  so  built 
up  of  contradictions,  that  he  was  always  specially 
liable  to  be  misunderstood.  He  was  stern,  but 
so  gentle  of  heart,  that  often  as  he  read  an  affect- 
incr  passage  of  some  book,  he  would  lean  his 
head  upon  his  hand,  and  weep  like  a  woman 
over  a  tale  of  suffering.  He  would  not  suffer 
his  personal  rights  to  be  trampled  upon,  yet  no 
man  was  more  often  the  victim  of  excessive 
kindheartedness.  He  was  zealous  in  his  accu- 
mulation of  wealth,  and  economical  in  its  use; 
yet  he  preached  all  his  life  for  a  nominal  salary, 
and    few    men  of   his    limited  means,  were  more 


BIO(JRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  39 

ready  to  bestow  charity  upon  the  needy,  or  to 
lend  his  name  to  aid  a  friend  in  pecuniary  embar- 
rassment. He  loved  old  truths,  and  old  forms, 
yet  his  sermons  were  always  marked  by  their 
originality  of  expression,  and  freedom  from  the 
rigid  rules  of  the  scholastics,  as  to  arrangement 
of  materials.  He  was  systematic  in  nothing 
except  theology.  He  had  high  views  as  to  the 
authority  of  the  ministerial  office,  but  he  was  free 
from  professional  affectations,  and  never  sought 
or  desired  any  "  benefit  of  clergy." 

He  had  both  the  feminine  and  masculine  tem- 
perament. He  was  not  by  any  means  indifferent 
to  commendation,  but  he  was  not  to  be  turned 
aside  by  opposition,  or  discouraged  by  failure. 
He  delighted  in  the  New  Testament,  and  when 
unable  to  read  himself,  he  would  ask  repeatedly, 
in  the  course  of  a  morning,  for  some  chapter  from 
the  Gospels  or  Epistles,  but  he  had  a  reverence 
as  great,  an  affection  as  warm,  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. "  He  loved  to  strike  again,  the  harp  of 
David,  to  place  to  his  lips  the  golden  trumpet 
of  Isaiah,"  to  clash  the  cymbals  of  Miriam,  to 
cry  with  the  exultation  of  the  triumphant  He- 
brews, "  who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among 
the  gods,  who  is  like  thee,  glorious    in  holiness, 


40  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders."  He  expressed 
freely,  and  with  decision,  his  desires  concerning 
trifles,  but  throughout  the  last  two  years  of  his 
life,  unable  through  failing  vision  to  read  a  word, 
lover  of  books  that  he  was,  and  eager  to  have  his 
friends  read  to  him,  he  uttered  no  word  of  com- 
plaint, he  expressed  no  wish  that  his  eyesight  had 
been  spared.  "  The  ways  of  the  Almighty  are 
unimpeachable,"  was  one  of  the  last  sentences 
he  ever  spoke. 

While  never  denying,  in  mock  humility,  those 
powers  of  mind  and  person,  which  made  him  so 
successful  as  a  public  speaker,  he  relied  as  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  for  success,  on  that  God 
of  whom  he  sinirs  in  his  ode  to  the  Deitv. 


O  God,  unchangeable   and  infinite, 
In  whom   all   being   is,  and  was,  before 
Creation  broke  upon    the    eternal    night, 
Or   ancient   silence  heard   the   rush    and    roar 
Of  mingled   elements,  when  earth   and   sea 
And   air,  and   chaos,  strove   for  mastery — 
While  Darkness,  brooded   o'er  the  giant  strife — 
And  earth  was  void  and  formless — without  liglit  or  life- 
Yet   in   thy  counsels,  from  eternity, 
All   things  were    manifest — all   creatures    known 
And  visible,  to   tliine    Omniscient   eye, 
As  when    the   light — at   tliy  commandment  shone 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  4I 

Around    the   new-formed    universe — when  sang 
The   morning   stars,  and   heaven's   high   arches   rang 
With   shouts  of  praise — creation's  jubilee 
Like    mingling  waters,  of  the   upheaving  sea — 

******* 

Millions  of  eyes,  O    God,  are   gazing   out 

Upon  thy  works — Who  knows  them  ?   Who  hath  found 

The   bound  of  Being  ?     Philosophy,   in   doubt 

Explores,  irreverent,  the   eternal   round, — 

And    Reason  wanders  wide,  till   she    has   heard 

The   still,  small  voice,  of  thy  revealed  Word, 

Which   unfolds   mysteries   to   her   darkened   sight 

And  proves — whatever  else  is  wrong — that  God  is  right. 

No   eye  hath    seen   Thee — uncreated    One  ! 

Dwelling   in   the   thick   darkness,  which   conceals 

The   glory,  none   can  view  and   live.     Thy  Son 

Alone,   to    the  whole   universe  reveals 

The  God-head's    brightness,  whose  transcendent   beam 

Is   in   the   God-man's  person,  tempered    seen; 

The   eternal  life  is   bodied   forth    in   sight — 

The   Finite  apprehends  in   Him  the   Infinite, 

Without  children  of  his  own,  he  lavished  un- 
stintedly his  fatherly  love  upon  an  adopted 
daughter.  When  in  1873,  her  son,  a  noble  and 
chivalric  officer  of  the  regular  army,  was  mas- 
sacred by  the  Indians,  his  grief  was  like  that  of 
one  who  weeps  for  his  own  flesh  and  blood. 

His  lassitude  increased  rapidly  during  the  fall 
of  1876.     He  knew,  and  often  said,  that  he  would 


42  iMEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

spend  the  winter  in  heaven.  He  was  so  feeble 
at  the  opening  of  the  new  year,  that  his  easy- 
chair  was  exchanged  for  the  bed  which  he  was 
never  again  to  leave,  till  carried  to  the  grave  by 
the  hands  of  men  who  loved  him.  For  two  days 
he  was  unconscious  of  earthly  sights  or  sounds. 
Like  Christian  in  the  land  of  Beulah,  he  was 
but  waiting  for  the  coming  of  the  summons  from 
the  Celestial  City.  On  Sunday,  the  2 1st  of 
January,  at  the  hour  of  evening  service,  he  drew 
one  deep  breath,  and  his  long  life  Avas  over. 
Within  sight  of  the  home  A\here  he  spent  twenty- 
five  happy  years,  encircled  on  every  side  by  the 
parishioners  and  friends  of  his  youth  and  matu- 
rity, his  body  lies  in  Forest  Lawn,  of  which,  in 
the  flush  of  his  ripe  and  vigorous  manhood,  with 
the  thought  it  may  be  of  this  hour  he  wrote: 

Place  for  the   dead  ! 
Not   in    the   noisy  City's   crowd   and   glare, 
By  heated   walls   and   dusty  streets,  but  where 
The  balmy  breath   of  the   free   summer  air 
Moves,  murmuring    softly,  o'er   the   new-made   grave. 
Rustling  among   the  boughs   which   wave. 

Above   the   dwellers   there. 

Rest   for   the   dead  ! 
Far,  far  from   the   turmoil  and   strife  of  trade. 
Let   the   broken   house   of  the  soul   be   laid  ; 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  43 

Where   the  violets  blossom   in   the   shade, 
And   the  voices  of  nature   do  softly  fall 
O'er  the   silent  sleepers  all — 

Where   rural  graves  are   made. 

Place   for  the   dead  ! 
In    the   quiet  glen  where  the  wild  vines  creep, 
And   the  desolate  mourner  may  wait  and   weep 
In  some   silent  place,  o'er  the   loved  who   sleep, 
Nor  sights,  nor  sounds   profane,  disturb  their  moan, 
With   God,    and  with   the  dead  alone, 

"Deep  calleth  unto   deep." 


44  MExMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 


FUNERAL  SERVICES. 


ADDRESS  BY  REV.  DR.  A.  T.  CHESTER. 

"  Or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be  broken, 
or  the  pitcher  be  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wheel  broken  at 
the  cistern  ;  then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and 
the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who  gave  it." 

Standing  on  this  solemn  occasion,  in  this 
sacred  desk,  which  our  departed  friend  and 
brother  honored  for  so  many  years  of  his  long 
ministry,  and  to  which  his  death  seems  to  give  a 
new  consecration,  I  would  give  utterance  to  words 
which  shall  be  in  accordance  with  his  life-long 
teachings,  and  with  the  example  he  has  given  us. 

I  have  chosen  therefore,  as  the  basis  of  a  few 
remarks,  these  words  of  scripture  which  were  so 
often  on  his  lips.  He  used  them  in  his  prayer,  or 
in  his  address,  on  every  funeral  occasion  at  which 
he  officiated  in  his  later  years.  This  splendid 
imagery  of  the  Hebrew  poet  was  especially  im- 
pressive, as  his  fine  imagination  gave  background 
to  every  tint  and  shade, — and  when  some  divine 
message  of  momentous  bearing  was  thus  revealed, 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  45 

for  him  it  had  a  double  charm.  He  accepted  the 
teaching  as  from  God,  while  each  grand  figure 
stirred  his  lively  fancy,  and  every  telling  word 
stamped  itself  upon  his  faithful  memory. 

To  everything  of  earth  there  must  be  an  end. 
To  the  longest  life,  though  it  reach  beyond  the 
three-score  years  and  ten,  the  time  must  come 
when  the  throbbing  heart  shall  cease  to  beat, 
when  the  silver  cord  of  the  nervous  system  shall 
be  broken,  and  the  brain  in  its  golden  bowl  shall 
cease  to  thrill  with  thought,  when  all  the  mech- 
anism of  life  shall  cease  to  move,  like  the  breaking 
of  the  pitcher  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wreck  of  the 
wheel  at  the  cistern, — the  most  striking  emblems 
of  disaster  among  the  Orientals,  where  water  and 
life  are  nearly  synonymous. 

To  the  most  successful  ministry,  though  it  be 
continued  beyond  a  generation,  the  end  must 
come.  Though  plans  be  successful,  and  treasures 
be  counted  by  the  million,  yet  must  the  owner 
die ;  though  life  be  prolonged  in  the  enjoyment 
of  financial  victory,  yet  at  length  the  end  must 
come,  to  the  richest  as  to  the  poorest ;  to  those 
of  noblest  intellect  and  highest  culture,  as  to  the 
dull  and  uneducated.  "  For  the  living  know  they 
shall  die."     We  do  not  need  inspired  teaching  to 


4^  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

convince  us  of  this.  ,We  know  it,  but  we  do  not 
heed  it,  and  so  God  comes  nigh  by  his  providence 
and  gives  us  proof  of  the  momentous  fact,  as 
some  fellow-being  is  struck  down  by  the  angel  of 
death,  and  we  are  permitted  to  look  upon  the  cold 
clay  on  its  way  to  the  grave.  And  even  then, 
such  is  the  sluggishness  of  our  spiritual  nature — 
while  we  may  be  convinced  that  another  is  dead, 
we  do  not  always  reach  the  conclusion,  each  for 
himself,  I  too  must  die.  It  is  the  single  relig- 
ious design  of  our  funerals,  not  to  comfort  the 
living,  not  to  honor  the  dead,  but  to  impress  the 
lesson  of  mortality,  to  lead  each  one  who  joins  in 
the  sad  procession  to  say,  I  too  must  die.  And 
that  not  for  the  saddening  effect  thus  produced, 
not  to  bring  gloom  and  darkness  over  the  mind, 
but  to  lead  to  the  contemplation  of  the  future 
life,  and  to  the  preparation  necessary  for  its  hajDpy 
condition. 

This  same  word  that  speaks  so  impressively  of 
the  end  of  the  mortal  also  reveals  the  immortal. 
This  invests  death  with  so  much  interest  and  gives 
it  such  importance.  "  Then  shall  the  dust  return 
to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  shall  return 
unto  God  who  gave  it."  This  is  the  proper,  most 
natural  disposition  to  make  of  the  decaying  body 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  47 

when  life  has  departed,  to  bury  it  in  the  earth 
and  let  its  disorganized  particles  return,  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  the  dust  from  which  it  was  made. 
How  much  better  than  any  attempt  to  preserve 
it  from  utter  decay,  resulting  only  in  the  hideous 
mummy-forms  of  the  Egyptians — how  much  bet- 
ter than  the  burning  and  the  preservation  of  the 
ashes  by  the  Pagans,  in  their  ignorance  of  God's 
purpose  or  their  want  of  faith  in  His  power  to 
give  a  spiritual  body  in  place  of  the  natural.  Yes, 
even  these  dear  bodies  Ave  do  not  lose  by  the 
power  of  death.  Out  of  the  dust  of  their  decay 
He  who  raised  them  up  at  first  as  the  habitation 
of  the  living  soul,  shall  build  a  spiritual  temple 
for  the  everlasting  residence  of  the  immortal 
spirit.  But  this  is  the  teaching  of  most  import- 
ance :  "  And  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God 
who  gave  it." 

The  soul  of  man,  that  came  from  God,  shall  go 
back  to  God.  That  which  has  such  godlike  attri- 
butes could  have  no  other  origin,  can  have  no 
other  destination.  While  this  is  purely  a  doc- 
trine of  revelation,  it  seems  also  most  natural 
and  reasonable.  Upon  each  of  these  glowing 
spirits  of  ours  He  retains  the  creator's  claim. 
Made  in  his  likeness  and  image  and  by  the  breath 


48  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

of  His  mouth,  it  can  neither  escape  His  notice 
nor  avoid  his  control.  He  has  fitted  it  for  im- 
mortahty,  and  made  immortality  its  heritage. 

When  therefore,  death  destroys  its  connection 
with  the  decaying  body,  it  must  make  its  way 
directly  to  its  maker  to  learn  its  everlasting  des- 
tination. As  neither  the  fact  of  existence,  nor 
the  time  and  place  of  our  being  was  left  to  our 
own  choice,  as  in  all  this  we  are  under  the  control 
of  the  Almighty  Maker's  will,  so  our  future  home 
must  be  settled  by  Him — to  Him  must  the  spirit 
return  as  soon  as  it  is  freed  from  its  fetters  of 
clay — when  it  becomes  capable  of  reaching  the 
divine  presence.  It  cannot  stay  here,  where  as 
we  know  by  experience,  earthly  bodies  are  essen- 
tial to  the  spiritual  movement  and  development. 
It  cannot  go  to  some  other  world  beyond  the 
reach  of  God's  presence,  for  that  presence  per- 
vades the  entire  universe.  The  spirit  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  its  being  must  return  unto 
God  who  gave  it.  Nor  are  we  left  in  any  doubt 
as  to  the  method  of  securing  a  favorable  recep- 
tion for  the  immortal  part  when  it  shall  have  put 
off  mortalit}-.  h^iith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
penitence  for  sin,  and  the  purpose  to  sin  no  more, 
and  a  life  si)cnt   under  the   iufiuciice  of  such  faith 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  49 

and  penitence,  shall  secure  for  us  admission  to 
the  joys  of  God's  special  presence  in  Heaven  ; 
for  the  want  of  this  we  are  taught  we  must  be 
banished  from  that  joy  forever.  What  moment- 
ous weight  is  thus  given  to  every  death,  not  that 
a  life  has  ceased  on  earth,  not  that  a  human  body 
is  given  up  to  be  turned  back  to  dust,  but  that 
a  spirit  has  gone  to  God  to  receive  its  reward 
for  eternity;  that  an  earthly  probation  has  come 
to  an  end,  and  an  unchangeable  condition  of  joy 
or  of  woe  has  been  begun.  These  are  the  sim- 
plest teachings  of  the  word  of  God  upon  this 
subject.  So  we  have  the  solemn  warning  given 
to  each  one  of  us,  "  Prepare  to  meet  thy  God." 
We  need  a  preparation.  Sinners  as  we  are,  we 
cannot  risk  a  rejection  of  the  spirit,  when  after 
death  it  must  make  its  way  to  God.  The  proba- 
bility is  too  great  that  sin  and  holiness  will  not 
agree.  We  need  assurance  in  some  way,  that 
even  in  our  imperfection  and  our  guilt,  we  can 
come  before  our  God  acceptably,  and  while  sci- 
ence and  philosophy  cannot  answer,  while  in  our 
deepest  unaided  reasonings  we  cannot  reach  any 
satisfactory  result,  while  darkness  and  doubt  ob- 
scure the  entire  future,  revelation  speaks  out,  and 
immortal  life  is  brought  to  light  by  Jesus  Christ 


50  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

in  the  Gospel.  We  are  creatures  of  God.  We 
have  sinned  againt  him.  We  deserve  eternal 
death.  We  are  doomed  to  endless  woe.  But 
the  Saviour  has  come  for  our  relief.  He  has 
made  atonement  for  us.  He  has  borne  our  pun- 
ishment. For  His  sake  we  may  be  pardoned. 
We  have  but  to  believe  on  Him,  accepting  Him 
as  our  Saviour,  and  to  prove  that  this  belief  is 
genuine  by  a  consistent  religious  life,  and  then 
for  His  sake  we  are  restored  to  God's  favor  and 
made  sure  of  everlasting  life. 

We  are  living  amid  religious  privileges  that  we 
may  have  an  opportunity  to  become  the  disciples 
of  Christ  that  we  may  become  the  friends  of 
God.  This  is  the  most  momentous  of  all  ques- 
tions for  each  one  of  us — have  I  such  a  belief 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  He  has  become 
my  Saviour?  It  is  to  give  the  answer  to  this 
question  that  your  spirit  and  mine,  must  return 
at  once  to  God,  \\hcn  life  is  ended.  What  a 
change  is  thus  made  in  a  moment.  Now  the 
spirit,  joined  to  the  body,  is  here  surrounded  by 
the  earthly  and  the  mortal,  perhaps  ignoring  the 
existence,  or  not  perceiving  the  presence  of  its 
God  ;  now,  in  a  moment,  as  disease  has  accom- 
])lishcd   its  work,  or  as  some  accident  brings  life 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  5  I 

to  a  sudden  end,  now,  in  a  moment,  that  spirit, 
your  spirit,  yourself,  is  standing  before  God,  far 
removed  from  all  the  surroundings  of  earth  and 
of  time,  to  learn  your  final  and  eternal  destina- 
tion. There  is  no  more  uncertainty,  no  more 
probation,  no  delay.  You  must  be  welcomed  as 
one  of  His  own  dear  children,  because  you  are 
joined  by  faith  to  His  Son,  or  must  be  sent  away 
forever,  never  more  to  share  in  His  mercy  or  to 
partake  of  His  love.  Is  not  death  important 
then  ?  Should  we  not  be  ready  to  meet  it  at 
any  unexpected  moment?  Have  you,  who  meet 
here  in  presence  of  the  dead,  such  a  hope  in 
Christ  as  will  prove  an  anchor  of  the  soul  in  the 
trying  hour?  Have  you  such  a  hope,  such  an 
assurance  as  he  had,  who  from  his  coffin,  is  en- 
forcing these  solemn  considerations  upon  you  ? 
Do  you  believe  in  the  Saviour,  whose  atoning- 
sacrifice  it  was  his  joy  to  make  known  for  more 
than  forty  years?  It  seems  fitting  that  he  should 
be  brought  here,  on  his  way  to  the  grave,  once 
more  to  utter,  though  with  silent  lips,  the  mes- 
sages of  salvation.  Will  not  some  of  you  who 
refused  to  listen  before,  now  give  heed ;  though 
being  dead,  he  yet  speaketh  ?  I  have  sought  to 
say  what  I  believe  he  would  wish  me  to  say  in 


52  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

this  solemn  audience.  I  believe,  could  he  speak, 
he  would  si\y,  "  speak  not  of  me  in  eulogy,  but 
proclaim  once  more  salvation  by  grace  through 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — speak  of  impending  death, 
of  the  return  of  the  spirit  to  God  and  of  the  way 
to  secure  the  friendship  and  everlasting  favor  of 
God,  through  Jesus  Christ.  Let  the  echoes  of 
these  great  truths,  which  I  have  sought  to  pro- 
claim with  my  living  voice  in  all  these  years  of 
my  ministry,  ring  over  my  coffin,  while  from  my 
mute  lips  the  warning  comes  once  more  to  my 
congregation — to  my  old  friends  and  neighbors — ■ 
to  every  one  who  can  hear  it,  '  Prepare  to  meet 
thy  God.'  " 

Yet,  I  cannot  close  without  a  word  of  another 
kind.  Dr.  Lord's  long  and  faithful  service  as  a 
preacher  of  righteousness  must  be  acknowledged 
by  his  brethren.  I  have  been  working  by  his  side 
for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  it  would  be  an  un- 
pardonable omission  if  I  did  not  bear  testimony 
to  his  faithfulness  to  all  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel,  and  his  fearlessness  and 
boldness  in  proclaiming  whatever  his  own  mind 
receiv^ed  as  the  truth  on  any  religious  or  political 
question,  however  unpopular  for  the  time,  that 
truth  might  be.     Whichever  side  he  might  take, 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  53 

on  any  important  topic  of  Church  or  State,  he 
was  always  true  to  his  own  convictions,  and 
advocated  his  cause  under  the  influence  of  the 
purest  and  noblest  principles,  both  of  piety  and 
patriotism.  Of  his  success  in  building  up  and 
developing  this  large  and  important  Church,  his 
pastor  will  doubtless  speak  at  large  ;  but  it  is  a 
grand  work  of  a  life-time  if  nothing  else  had 
been  accomplished.  Of  his  identification  with 
Buffalo,  and  his  love  for  its  interests,  mention 
has  already  been  made  in  the  action  of  the  city 
government,  and  in  the  various  resolutions  occa- 
sioned by  his  death.  Though  for  some  time 
withdrawn  from  active  life,  yet  it  may  be  ques- 
tioned whether  such  a  breach  could  be  made  by 
the  death  of  any  other  man  in  this  community. 
We  mourn  for  him  as  for  a  father  beloved  ;  we 
cherish  his  memory ;  we  will  seek  to  profit  by 
his  example. 

There  was  something  in  his  life  that  seems  to 
make  especially  appropriate  to  himself  one  of 
his  own  admirable  verses  on  the  Apostle  Paul  : 

"  O   miracle   of  sovereign  grace,  the   persecuting   Saul 
Hath    run    by   faith    the    Christian    race,    and   is  'such    a 
one    as    Paul 
5 


54  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

The   aged,'  prisoner   of   the    Lord,  whose    time    is    near  at 

hand, 
And  who  looks  for  his  departure  as  the  storm-tossed  look 

for   land  ; 
For   there's    '  a   house    not   made  with   hands '    that   nev-er 

shall   decay, 
The    Lord    of  Hosts,  the    righteous   Judge,  shall   give   me 

in    that   day." 


ADDRESS  BY  REV.  D.  R.  FRAZER. 

When  God  sent  the  fiery  chariot  to  bear  EHjah 
from  his  work  to  his  rest,  so  profound  was  Elisha's 
sense  of  the  great  loss  he  had  sustained  in  the 
removal  of  his  leader,  teacher  and  friend,  that,  in- 
stead of  attempting  an  analysis  of  his  character,  or 
rehearsing  the  exploits  of  the  departed  prophet,  he 
cried  out  in  deepest  anguish  of  spirit,  "  My  Father, 
my  Father,  the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen 
thereof!"  Realizing  the  fact  that  greater  than 
all  spoken  grief  is  that  which  is  unspoken  and 
unspeakable  ;  realizing  the  fact  that  words  cannot 
adequately  portray  the  tenderest  emotions  of  the 
heart,  Elisha  regarded  and  accepted  silence  as  the 
most  befitting  expression  of  his  deep  grief. 

Lamenting,  as  we  do  to-day,  the  loss  of  a  be- 
loved father  in  Christ,  one  whose  many  years, 
whose  personal  traits,  whose  long  term  and  faith- 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  55 

ful  service  in  the  Christian  ministry  entitle  him  to 
this  distinction  ;  coming,  as  we  do  to-day,  to  pay 
our  last  sad  tributes  of  respect  and  affection  to 
him  before  we  bear  him  hence  to  his  rest,  we  may 
well  imitate  the  example  of  the  prophet,  and  let 
our  words  be  few,  since  our  words,  be  they  never 
so  fitly  chosen,  must  fail  to  embody  our  sense  of 
the  deep  loss  which  we  have  sustained. 

Although  death  is  a  very  common  event  in  our 
world,  yet  in  no  sense,  is  it  a  common  event 
which  calls  us  together  to-day.  A  great  light, 
which  has  shone  for  over  a  half  a  century  in  this 
community,  and  in  whose  radiance  we  all  have 
rejoiced,  has  suddenly  been  extinguished.  No, 
not  extinguished,  for  we  read  that  "they  that  turn 
many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars 
forever  and  ever."  Not  extinguished,  but  only 
removed  to  shine  yonder  with  brighter  beam  and 
more  glorious  ray,  yet  so  removed  that  hereafter 
the  radiance  shall  burst  upon  us,  only  from  the 
historic  past. 

Although  grief  is  the  ordinary  attendant  of 
death,  it  is  in  no  sense,  an  ordinary  grief  which 
burdens  our  heart  to-day.  The  soldier,  who  in 
the  vigor  of  his  early  manhood  enlisted  for  Christ 
and  threw  away  the  scabbard,  has  now  laid  down 


56  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

the  sword.  The  man  of  strong  mind,  of  deep 
affection,  of  imperial  will,  of  invincible  determi- 
nation, of  earnest  piety,  has  now  fallen  on  sleep. 
The  bereavement  has  cast  its  sable  pall,  not  only 
over  this  Church,  which  bewails  the  loss  of  its 
founder  and  first  pastor,  but  over  all  these 
Churches,  aye,  over  every  heart  and  home  in  this 
community,  for  the  universal  conviction  is,  that 
"  a  prince  and  a  great  man  has  fallen  to-day  in 
Israel." 

Although  we  may  not  accept  as  an  absolute 
statement  of  fact  the  maxim  that  "  circumstances 
make  the  man,"  yet  it  is  true,  within  given  limits, 
that  circumstances  do  exert  a  powerful  influence 
in  the  formation  of  our  characters  and  in  the 
determination  of  our  life-record. 

By  force  of  circumstances  a  part  of  the  min- 
istry of  our  departed  father  was  largely  contro- 
versial. He  served  in  the  time  of  great  ecclesias- 
tical excitement ;  in  the  days  of  fierce  theological 
contentions,  and  he  will  live  in  history  as  one  of 
the  central  features  of  those  troubled  times.  He 
heartily  loved  discussion,  and  his  logical  mind 
would  rush  into  argument  with  all  the  zest  that 
the  well-trained  war-horse  rushes  into  the  battle, 
and   whatever  may  be  our  views   in  relation    to 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  57 

the  sentiments  which  he  adv^anced,  no  one  can 
question  the  fact,  that  among  all  the  contestants 
there  was  none  more  decided  in  opinion,  none 
more  loyal  to  conviction  of  right  and  truth  and 
duty  than  was  he. 

But  these  are  not  the  things  by  which  we,  his 
friends,  his  neighbors,  his  brethren,  remember 
him.  When  we  want  his  record,  we  look  at  the 
permanent  work  which  he  wrought  for  Christ. 
When  we  want  to  see  his  memorial,  we  lift  our 
eyes  and  look  about  us.  This  Church  of  Christ 
gathered  by  his  energy,  this  colossal  edifice  built 
by  his  perseverance,  are  more  abiding  testimo- 
nials to  his  worth  and  his  work,  than  would  be 
the  most  gorgeous,  symmetrical  and  costly  mau- 
soleum which  affection  could  rear  to  his  memory. 
Others  may  recall  the  logician,  the  theologian, 
the  disputant.  We  remember  only  the  man  of 
childlike  simplicity,  of  marked  unselfishness,  of 
deepest  piety.  We  retain,  in  grateful  recollec- 
tion, not  simply  those  sterner  elements  of  char- 
acter which  go  to  make  up  the  strong  man,  but 
also  that  singular  gentleness  and  winning  tender- 
ness which  softened  and  sanctified  these.  And 
how  beautifully  these  sweeter  traits  were  mani- 
fested   in    the    last    days.      I     have    sometimes 


58  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

thought  that  the  problem  of  life  most  difficult 
of  solution  is  the  problem,  "  how  may  we  grow 
old  gracefully?"  It  is  indeed  a  hard  thing,  for 
one  who  has  mingled  among  the  activities  of 
life,  to  find,  by  reason  of  advancing  age  and  the 
many  infirmities  which  age  brings,  that  he  is  no 
longer  able  to  keep  step  with  the  world's  prog- 
ress, but,  despite  his  disinclination,  is  compelled 
to  fall  back  among  the  stragglers.  It  must  be  a 
still  harder  thing  for  a  man,  who,  by  his  own  zeal 
and  energy,  has  made  for  himself  an  honored 
place  and  name,  to  be  compelled  to  step  aside 
and  allow  another  to  occupy  his  position.  The 
average  man  would  be  jealous ;  the  old  man 
would  be  out  of  s}'mpathy  with  the  plans  and 
projects  of  the  younger.  But  what  a  beautiful 
solution  to  this  problem  did  our  dear  father  give. 
I  may  not  anticipate  what  my  brother  Wood  will 
doubtless  tell  you  in  his  memorial  discourse  on 
next  Sunday  evening  respecting  the  character 
of  his  personal  relations  to  the  departed,  further 
than  to  state  that  which  our  brother's  modesty 
may  hinder  him  from  presenting.  Instead  of 
that  carping,  scorching  criticism  which  some  old 
pastors  feel  in  conscience  bound  to  inflict  upon 
their  successors,  this  dear  man  of  God  has  told 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  59 

me  repeatedly  that  he  considered  himself  the 
greatest  admirer  of  this  young  brother's  ability, 
and  that  he  devoutly  thanked  God  for  the  success 
which  had  attended  his  ministrations,  and  I  hold 
that  there  is  nothing  within  the  reach  of  human 
possibilities  that  could  more  clearly  manifest  the 
real   nobility  of  the   man. 

If  you  will  pardon  a  personal  reference,  I  can 
say  that  the  same  thoughtfulness  and  tenderness 
were  also  extended  in  a  marked  manner  to  me. 
Dr.  Lord  was  a  positive  man  in  every  respect 
— a  negative  in  none.  If  he  liked  you,  you 
knew  it,  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing, 
that  for  some  reason  or  other,  he  liked  me,  and 
doubtless  to  that  fact  my  selection  for  the  present 
service  may  be  ascribed.  You,  brethren  of  the 
Central  Church,  will  remember  how  touchingly 
and  earnestly  he  urged  upon  you,  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  extra  service  of  last  winter,  the  duty 
of  caring  for  your  pastor;  how  solemnly  he  en- 
joined you  not  to  allow  him  to  overtax  himself, 
and  you  may  remember  the  illustration  he  ad- 
duced to  enforce  his  appeal  when  he  said,  "  that 
dear  brother  of  the  First  Church  must  die  before 
spring,  and  that  because  of  overwork."  Thank 
God  the  dear  old  father  was  wrong  in  his  conclu- 


6o  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

sion,  because  wrongly  informed  as  to  the  facts  of 
the  case,  yet  this  same  tender  solicitude  has  been 
the  characteristic  feature  of  his  intercourse  with 
me.  In  almost  the  last  conversation  I  had  with 
him,  he  pressed  upon  me  the  importance  and 
necessity  of  caring  for  my  health,  and  then  said, 
"  My  dear  brother,  I  have  passed  the  compli- 
mentary age.  I  never  do  anything  for  compli- 
ment, and  I  never  want  any  compliment  paid  me. 
Never  ask  me  to  preach  for  you  as  a  compliment, 
but  when  and  whenever  you  have  a  real  need, 
whenever  I  can  really  serve  you,  call  upon  me 
without  the  slightest  hesitation."  This  was  the 
man  as  I  knew  him,  and  is  it  any  marvel  as  I 
stand  beside  his  lifeless  form  with  these  tender 
recollections  running  through  my  mind,  that  for 
one  I  feel,  as  doubtless  we  all  feel,  like  crying 
aloud  with  the  Prophet,  "  My  Father,  my 
Father !  " 

Very  appropriately  we  have  brought  the  old 
pilgrim  back  once  more  to  the  place  of  his  toils, 
his  trials  and  his  triumphs,  but  only  to  bear  him 
hence  to  his  last  long  resting  place.  Never  again 
shall  we  see  that  patriarchal  form  in  this  sacred 
desk  ;  never  again  will  he  dispense  to  you  the 
emblems  of  the  broken  body  and  the  shed  blood  ; 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  6l 

never  again  will  that  well  known  voice  awake  the 
slumbering  echoes  of  this  house  of  God.  He  has 
done  his  w^ork,  and  has  done  it  well.  For  nearly 
a  half  century  he  has  occupied  a  public  position, 
yet  he  comes  down  to  the  grave  without  an 
enemy,  without  a  stain  upon  his  character  or  a 
spot  upon  his  reputation.  Life's  labors  over,  he 
rests  in  Christ,  and  we  shall  see  him  again  only 
when  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality. 
Although  we  may  not  speak  his  worth  or  esti- 
mate our  loss,  yet  we  may  imitate  his  example, 
and  we  will  enshrine  among  our  dearest  earthly 
memories  the  name  of  John  C.  Lord. 


62  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 


MEMORIAL   SERMON. 


BY  REV.  CHAS.  WOOD.  ■ 


"  Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen 
this  day  in  Israel?" — II  Samuel,  3:  38. 

A  PRINCE,  though  the  blood  of  kings  or  nobles 
flowed  not  in  his  veins;  though  no  sovereign's 
hand  had  placed  the  star  or  the  ribbon  upon 
his  breast.  A  prince  among  men,  by  God's  gifts 
of  nature  and  of  grace.  No  fitting  eulogy  can 
be  spoken  of  him  whom  we  this  hour  seek  to 
honor;  already  it  has  found  utterance  in  the 
gathering  of  this  great  assemblage,  in  the  gar- 
lands of  respect  cast  upon  his  grave  by  the 
members  of  the  Common  Council  and  of  the 
Press,  in  his  own  works  which  do  follow  him 
while  he  now  rests  from  his  labors,  in  the  very 
walls  and  stones  of  this  edifice;  most  of  all,  in 
the  Christian  lives  of  multitudes  who  were  led  by 
him  in  the  way  of  truth,  and  in  the  tears  of  those 
who  in  nearly  every  town  and  hamlet  of  our  State, 
as  well  as  in  our  own  city,  hear  with  unfeigned 
sorrow  of  his  departure. 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  63 

The  eloquent  biographer  of  one  of  the  most 
brilHant  of  English  historians  and  essayists,  is 
content  to  find  all  needed  hereditary  honors  for 
his  hero  in  "  a  genealogy  which  derives  from  a 
Scotch  manse."  We  too  are  content  to  trace 
back  the  stream  of  John  Chase  Lord's  life  to  a 
source  equally  honorable.  He  was  born  in  a  New 
England  parsonage,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death 
the  influences  of  that  home  were  marked  in  his 
habits  of  thought  and  of  speech. 

The  years  of  his  sojourn  upon  this  earth  were 
almost  commensurate  with  the  history  of  this  city. 
It  was  in  1801  that  the  foundations  of  Buffalo 
were  laid — it  was  on  the  ninth  of  August,  1 805, 
that  he  began  the  struggle  of  life.  In  early  boy- 
hood he  attended  a  common  school.  Afterward 
he  received  instruction  at  one  of  the  academies  of 
New  Hampshire,  his  native  State.  Neither  in 
these  schools,  nor  at  Hamilton  College,  which  he 
entered  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  did  he  give  prom- 
ise of  a  career  so  full  of  usefulness  as  that  which 
has  now  closed.  Few  could  have  foretold,  unless 
gifted  with  the  keenest  powers  of  reading  char- 
acter, that  such  a  lad  would  develop  into  such  a 
man.  "  I  was  wild  and  reckless,"  he  says,  and 
though  he  had    great  reverence  for  all  that  was 


64  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

true  and  good,  his  better  purposes  were  often 
overborne  by  the  strong  tides  which  swept 
through  his  impetuous  heart.  Like  Paul,  in  the 
days  when  he  sat  at  the  feet  of  GamaHel,  he  saw 
no  beauty  in  that  Master  whom  he  has  since  so 
faithfully  served. 

In  his  journal,  begun,  as  he  tells  us,  "for  the 
purpose  of  recording  and  keeping  in  remembrance 
the  wonderful  mercies  of  Almighty  God,"  he 
writes,  that  in  his  school  and  college  life,  he  was 
a  source  of  constant  grief  to  his  Christian  parents, 
because  of  his  repeated  refusals  to  give  heed  to 
Divine  truth.  Leaving  college  before  the  end  of 
the  regular  course,  he  spent  some  months  in  Can- 
ada as  the  editor  of  a  paper.  Thence  he  came  to 
Buffalo.  He  reached  the  village  in  1825,  with 
eighteen  pence  in  his  pocket,  with  no  prospect  of 
receiving  aid  from  influential  friends,  of  whom  at 
that  time  he  had  not  one  of  the  many  hundreds, 
who  in  later  days  esteemed  it  an  honor  to  call 
him  by  that  name. 

For  the  first  year,  while  pursuing  the  study  of 
the  law,  his  chosen  profession,  "  I  was  barely 
able,"  he  sa}'s,  "  to  procure  sustenance."  But  he 
had  formed  resolutions  of  frugality  and  industry 
at  the  close  of  his  college  life,  to  which  he  now 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  65 

faithfully  clung,  and  in  which  he  found  his  best 
friends.  He  was  determined  to  succeed,  and  he 
did.  He  pushed  his  way  rapidly.  He  began  to 
make  money.  Instead  of  spending  it  in  extrava- 
gance, he  invested  it  judiciously.  "  In  1828,"  he 
says,  "  I  married  my  beloved  wife.  On  every  side 
my  prosperity  was  enlarged,"  and  then  he  analyzes 
the  motives  which  at  this  time  ruled  his  life.  God 
was  not  in  all  his  thoughts.  In  the  Church  itself 
the  world  was  ever  present.  He  heard  the  truth, 
but  he  heeded  it  not.  There  is  nothing  more  in- 
teresting in  his  journal  than  the  account  he  gives 
of  his  first  religious  impressions. 

"  About  this  time,"  he  writes,  "  my  wife  began 
to  be  very  thoughtful  upon  religious  subjects.  I 
noticed  the  change,  but  had  not  so  far  lost  my 
respect  for  religion  as  to  dissuade  her  from  cher- 
ishing such  thoughts ;"  but  he  says,  "  there  was 
no  more  worldly-minded  young  man  in  the  village 
of  Buffalo  than  myself."  He  was  expecting  soon 
to  be  appointed  District  Attorney  for  Erie  county, 
and  he  had,  as  he  thought,  no  time  to  pay  atten- 
tion to  the  voice  with  which  God  was  even  then 
speaking  to  him.  Suddcnjy  there  came  from 
Rochester  the  news  that  a  number  of  leading 
lawyers  of  the  place,  some  of  whom    had    been 


66  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

very  skeptical,  had  become  Christians.  This 
startled  him,  drew  his  attention  for  a  time  away 
from  worldly  plans;  a  wide-spread  religious  inter- 
est began  to  manifest  itself  in  the  church  he 
attended.  He  listened  now,  when  he  went  to  the 
sanctuary,  to  the  preaching  of  the  truth.  There 
soon  came  to  him  an  overwhelming  sense  of  sin. 
"  I  was  weighed  down  by  it,"  he  says,  "  I  began 
to  pray.  Some  Christians  too,  took  courage  to 
speak  to  me,  and  to  pray  with  me."  But  the 
more  earnestly  he  sought  Christ,  the  more  earnest 
was  the  Evil  One  in  his  efforts  not  to  let  such  a 
man  escape  from  his  power,  to  become  a  dreaded 
enemy.  "  My  mind  was  filled,"  he  says,  "  with 
terrible  blasphemies  ;  at  times  I  was  prostrated  to 
the  floor  by  the  most  terrible  thoughts."  But  lie 
was  never  easily  discouraged  when  he  knew  he 
was  in  the  right  way.  He  kept  on  seeking.  He 
kept  on  praying,  and  one  day  as  he  pra}-ed,  the 
feelings  of  his  heart  were  changed.  He  began  to 
praise  God  for  His  justice  and  truth — a  work 
which  he  never  gave  over  while  his  mind  was  able 
to  do  the  bidding  of  his  will.  There  he  belie\-cd 
the  purpose  of  his  life  was  altered.  Henceforth 
he  was  to  live  for  Christ. 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  6/ 

His  was  not  a  nature,  as  we  all  know,  to  cher- 
ish such  a  purpose  in  secret  only.     Early  in  the 
spring  of    1830,  when  the  trees  were  beginning 
to  put  forth  the  buds  and  leaves  of  a  new  life, 
he    stood    with    his    wife    before    the    pulpit    of 
the    First    Presbyterian  Church    of    Buffalo,   and 
there,  together,   they  consecrated   themselves  to 
the   service   of   the    Master.      Remembering    his 
wholeheartedness,  we  are  not   surprised    to  find 
that  the  next  page  of  his  journal  gives  his  reasons 
for  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
In    one   of  them   he   writes   that   his    heart  had 
been    greatly  touched    by  the   necessities   of  the 
Far  West,  and  having  property  of  his  own   suffi- 
cient to  support  him,  so  that  he  need  be  no  bur- 
den   to    any   of   the  missionary   societies  of  the 
Church,  it  was  his  hope,  if  God  should  seem  so  to 
direct,  to  labor  at  least  for  a  number  of  years  in 
the    valley  of  the    Mississippi.     Though    by   the 
providence  of  God  he  was  shut  out  from  the  ful- 
fillment of  this  wish,  he  alludes  to  it  very  often, 
and  for  many  years  he  gave  no  small  portion  of 
his  salary  for  the  support  of  a  missionary  upon 
the  frontier.     At    the    close    of  his   three   years' 
course  of  theological  study  in  Auburn   Seminary 
he  hopes  that  "he  has  grown  in  the  kno\\iedge  of 


68  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD, 

God  and  in  acquaintance  with  the  doctrines  of 
revealed  rehgion,"  F'rom  the  seminary  he  went 
to  supply  a  Church  at  Fayetteville,  in  this  State, 
intending  to  remain  there  for  a  few  months  before 
going  to  the  West ;  and  becoming  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  people  of  that  charge,  he  prays  that 
he  may  not  be  kept,  by  lov^e  for  them,  from  the 
work  in  the  great  valley,  if  such  be  God's  will. 

From  this  time  his  journal  opens  to  us  a  side  of 
his  character  of  which  many  perhaps  have  been 
almost  totally  ignorant.  It  was  a  great  surprise 
to  the  clergy,  and  to  the  people  of  Scotland, 
when,  upon  the  publication  of  the  memoirs  of 
Norman  McLeod,  it  was  found  that  he  who  had 
been  so  famous  for  his  eloquence,  his  humor,  and 
his  exuberance  of  animal  spirit,  was  also  a  man 
who  had  lived  in  as  close  communion  to  God  as 
any  who,  because  of  great  sanctimoniousness  of 
manner,  have  been  given  a  place  in  the  unwritten 
Protestant  calendar  of  saints.  Some  such  feeling 
of  surprise  might  be  aroused  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  remember  our  departed  friend  as  the 
theologian,  the  controversialist,  whose  arguments 
often  tore  in  shreds  the  logic  of  his  opponents, 
who  was  always  ready,  like  David,  to  meet  either 
a  lion,  or  a  bear,  or  a   giant,   in   single  combat, 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  69 

when  upon  the  written   page  they  see  the  record 
of  a   spiritual    Hfe   which   was    equally  deep    and 
strong.     Like  David,  he  knew  what  it  was  to  talk 
with  God    in    the    night  watches.      Many  of  his 
prayers  breathe  the  spirit  of  that  wondrous  fifty- 
first  Psalm.     Often  he  cries  "Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  oh  God."     The  first  entry  he  makes  in  his 
journal,  after  reaching   Fayetteville,  is  one  filled 
with  desire  for  the  salvation  of  his  people;    and, 
with  his  close  analysis  of  motives,  he  adds  the 
hope   that   there  may  be   no   selfishness  in  this, 
and   asks   the   help   of    God   that   he   may  desire 
the  prosperity  of  every  Church  in  Zion  even  as 
his   own.      Again    and   again,    as    he    closes    the 
narration  of  the  Sabbath  work,  and  there  is  but 
little   concerning  any  other  day,   he  mourns  his 
lack    of   peace    and    faith,   and   prays  for  greater 
holiness    and    humility.     He    speaks    of    a   high 
temper  as  the    source    of  his  besetting   sin.     He 
fears    that    he    is    often     too     irritable,    and    he 
reminds   himself   of   Paul's   admonition    to  Tim- 
othy, "  The  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive, 
but  be  gentle  unto  all  men,  apt  to  teach,  patient, 
in  meekness   instructing  those  that  oppose  them- 
selves."    When  there  came   to  the  village  some 
who    taught    doctrines   which    he    believed    were 

6 


70  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN    C.  LORD. 

not  grounded  upon  the  word  of  God,  he  saw 
that  they  were  sincere  and  hesitated  to  speak 
against  them,  "  lest  haply  I  should  be  found," 
he  says,  "  fighting  against  God."  Not  far  from 
Fayetteville,  at  a  place  called  Pompey  Hill,  he 
was  invited  to  preach  during  a  season  of  much 
religious  interest,  and  the  inquiry  meetings  which 
Avere  held  during  the  day,  and  in  the  evening,  were 
filled  with  those  who  were  anxious  to  hear  what 
they  must  do  to  be  saved.  In  these  meetings 
there  came  to  him  a  consciousness  of  God's  pres- 
ence such  as  he  had  not  known  before.  "  I  felt," 
he  writes,  "  like  walking  softly  before  God." 

From  Fayetteville  he  was  called  to  Geneseo, 
and  there,  too,  God  placed  His  seal  to  his  minis- 
try. In  his  short  pastorate,  many  who  had  been 
utterly  indifferent  to  the  truth  were  brought  to 
Christ.  Nearly  all  the  heads  of  families  who 
were  in  the  habit  of  attending  his  church,  came 
into  the  fold.  Some  who  are  now  officers  of 
Presbyterian  Churches  in  this  city,  were  then  led 
to  acceptance  of  the  Saviour.  By  their  con- 
sistent lives,  they  have  borne  witness,  that  his 
preaching  was  not  in  mere  words  of  man's  wis- 
dom.    Durin<r  the  weeks  in  which  that  work  was 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  7 1 

being  carried  on,  his  one  prayer  is,  "  that  he  may 
be  able  to  giv^e  God  all  the  glory." 

In  Buffalo  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  with 
which  he  and  his  wife  united  at  the  beginning 
of  their  new  life,  was  fast  becoming  too  strait 
for  the  numbers  that  wished  to  attend.  It  was 
deemed  best  that  a  colony  should  be  sent  off,  and 
a  new^  Church  formed.  At  once  the  thoughts  of 
this  little  company,  who  were  now  to  build  a 
home  for  themselves,  were  turned  to  Geneseo. 
Could  they  not  secure  for  their  pastor  the  young 
man  whom  they  had  first  known  as  a  successful 
lawyer  and  teacher?  Some  of  them  had  sat  at 
his  feet,  learners  of  earthly  wisdom,  they  had 
grown  to  love  him,  and  gladly  would  they  hear 
from  him  the  words  that  could  make  them  wise 
unto  salvation.  They  urged  him  to  come  and 
be  their  guide.  He  was  already  attached  to  the 
town.  Many  personal  friends  were  eager  for  him 
to  become  once  more  a  resident  of  Buffalo. 
He  felt,  so  he  whites,  "  that  his  nature  was 
such  that  he  needed  to  have  a  great  deal  to  do 
to  preserve  his  cheerfulness  of  spirit."  Here  he 
would  find  a  field  for  his  activities,  affording  un- 
limited opportunities  for  work,  and  in  October, 
1835,  he  once  more  made  this  his  home,  scarcely 


72  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

dreaming  that    he   should  dwell    here,  till   called 
of  God  to  the  many  mansions. 

He  found  Buffalo  a  thriving  country  town.  He 
has  lived  to  see  that  town  become  the  third  city 
of  the  State.  He  found  here  one  Presbyterian 
Church ;  he  has  lived  to  see  eight  others  organ- 
ized and  developed.  Each  of  the  other  denom- 
inations too,  has  not  failed  to  do  its  share  in 
providing  for  the  religious  wants  of  the  people. 
Neither  can  we  in  truth  refrain  from  saying  that 
to  his  w^ork,  part  at  least  of  this  prosperity,  both 
temporal  and  spiritual,  is  due.  He  began  his  min- 
istry here  in  a  church  of  apostolic  plainness,  and 
in  that  church  he  preached  the  plain  gospel  of  the  • 
Apostles.  The  truth  he  taught  was  not  new, 
but  his  way  of  presenting  it  was  something  very 
different  from  the  preaching  which  is  usually 
heard  in  the  churches.  He  spoke,  so  it  has 
been  said,  "like  one  who  saw  twelve  jurors  be- 
fore him  whom  he  was  determined  to  convince 
before  he  sat  down,"  but  the  flash  of  his  poet- 
ical imagination  gave  light  and  beauty  to  his 
severest  arguments.  He  was,  almost  from  the 
first,  ranked  among  the  leaders  of  thought. 
Arouiid  him  gathered  both  j-oung  men  and  old, 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  73 

who  were  fascinated  by  his  briUiant  powers  and 
his  genial  manner. 

The  Church  grew — grew  with  what  was  con- 
sidered, at  that  time,  astonishing  rapidity,  I 
will  not  dwell  upon  the  story  of  its  life  which 
has  so  often  been  told.  We  have  come  tocrether 
to-night  to  think  of  the  pastor,  not  of  the  church, 
and  the  pastor  of  the  Pearl  Street  Church, 
afterwards  called  the  Central,  soon  became,  per- 
haps, the  best  known  man  in  the  city.  Corre- 
spondents of  eastern  papers  were  never  tired  of 
describing  his  personal  appearance,  and  the  pecu- 
liarities of  his  oratory.  In  how  many  exciting 
days  were  his  powers  fully  tested  !  He  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1836,  where 
he  witnessed  and  took  part  in  scenes  like  those 
which  filled  with  excitement  the  United  States 
Senate  and  Ho'use  of  Representatives  in  i860. 
There  began  the  separation,  which  was  com- 
pleted the  following  year,  between  the  Old  and 
New  School  parties  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
By  the  fact  of  his  position  as  the  only  member  of 
the  Old  School  body  in  this  city,  he  was  forced 
into  greater  prominence  than  he  desired.  Part  of 
his  fame  is  due  to  his  success  as  a  controversialist, 
but  he  tells  us  that  he  never  sought  controversy. 


74  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN    C.  LORD. 

He  never  snuffed  the  battle  afar  off.  He  fought 
only  when  he  believed  that  peace  could  not  be 
purchased  except  by  the  denial  of  some  principle 
to  which  he  clung  with  the  tenacity  of  a  whole- 
hearted faith.  When  circumstances  were  changed, 
and  he  knew  that  there  were  others  who  would 
see  that  the  truth  did  not  suffer  because  of  silence, 
he  sheathed  the  sword  which  he  had  wielded 
so  manfully,  and  never  again  drew  it  from  its 
scabbard. 

He  loved  better  to  do  the  works  of  mercy. 
When,  in  1849,  the  Asiatic  cholera  was  claim- 
ing its  scores  of  victims  each  week,  he  who  had 
been  foremost  in  theological  battles,  was  now 
foremost  in  fighting  with  all  his  power  the  terrible 
pestilence,  and  the  dire  distress  which  followed  in 
the  path  of  the  plague.  Three  years  after  this, 
in  1852,  the  Presbyterian  church  conferred  upon 
him  one  of  the  greatest  honors  of  his  life.  He 
was  unanimously  elected  moderator  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  which  convened  that  year  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  and  presided  with  the  grace  and 
dignity  which  characterized  all  his  public  appear- 
ances, while  his  addresses  of  welcome  to  delegates 
from  sister  churches  of  our  own  and  other  lands 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  75 

are  still  remembered  for  their  good  taste  and 
appropriateness. 

His  vigorous  bodily  health,  which  had  with- 
stood the  assaults  of  disease,  was  now  some- 
what impaired,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  phy- 
sicians he  spent  some  six  months  of  the  fall 
and  winter,  just  before  the  civil  war,  in  preach- 
ing to  one  of  the  churches  of  Mobile.  As  a  well- 
known  man  he  was  received  with  great  kindness  by 

all  the  citizens.     He  was  shown,  of  course,  the  bet- 

i 

ter  side  of  that  peculiar  institution  of  the  South, 
which  was  so  soon  to  cause  a  war,  from  whose 
wounds  we  have  not  yet  recovered.  The  terrible 
evils  of  slavery  were  hidden  from  his  sight  ;  what 
wonder  then,  upon  his  return  to  the  North  he  was 
ready  to  speak  with  greater  forbearance  of  the 
slaveholder  than  the  facts  would  warrant  in  the 
judgment  of  his  Northern  friends  !  In  theological 
views  and  by  nature  he  was  a  conservative,  and 
with  this  thought  before  us,  we  shall  be  able  to 
understand,  what  has  always  seemed  to  many  a 
mystery,  that  in  1861,  he  who  had  spoken  but  a 
few  months  previously  in  favor  of  the  South,  was 
among  the  most  earnest  in  eloquent  condemnation 
of  those  who  had  rebelled.  In  this  he  was  per- 
fectly   consistent.      Slavery    was    constitutional. 


'/(y  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

The  laws  of  the  land  protected  the  slaveholder. 
With  his  reverence  for  law,  he  could  not  but 
condemn  those  men  of  the  North,  whose  zeal  had 
led  them  into  deeds  which  were  unconstitutional 
and  unlawful ;  but  when  the  roar  of  the  first  shot 
fired  on  Fort  Sumter  came  to  his  ears,  from  that 
moment  his  love  of  law  made  him  a  firm  supporter 
of  the  flag  which  rebels  had  sought  to  tear  down. 
From  this  position  he  never  wavered.  Some  of 
his  most  eloquent  and  memorable  addresses  were 
delivered  in  the  trying  days  of  1862  and  1863. 
He  saw  many  whom  he  had  baptized  in  their 
infancy  march  forth,  as  strong  men,  to  fight 
bravely  for  the  right.  Alas !  from  this  pulpit 
often  he  looked  down  into  the  pale,  upturned 
face  of  some  hero  who  had  fallen  at  the  front,  or 
in  the  hospital,  had  breathed  away  his  shattered 
and  broken  life.  Of  these  men  who  had  thus 
shed  their  blood  for  their  country,  he  could  never 
speak  but  with  trembling  voice  and  quivering  lip. 
No  one  longed  for  an  honorable  peace  more  ear- 
nestly than  he.  No  one  rejoiced  with  a  greater 
joy  when  the  last  blow  was  struck. 

But  the  fierce  battle  with  evil,  which  he  had 
so  long  fought,  began  now  to  tell  upon  his 
splendid    powers.     His    spirits   had    indeed    been 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  'J'J 

kept  up,  as  he  had  hoped,  by  having  a  great 
deal  to  do.  But  he  had  done  too  much  ;  the 
work  of  his  own  church  was  enough.  To  that 
he  had  added  greatly  by  public  efforts.  The 
bow  had  been  strung  too  high.  It  was  strained. 
He  always  loved  to  work,  but  the  time  was 
slowly  coming  when  work  was  an  effort.  His 
church  urged  upon  him  the  duty  of  having 
some  assistance.  In  response  to  their  entreaty 
he  consented  that  one  who  had  been  very  success- 
ful in  a  large  village  of  Western  New  York  should 
be  called,  and  installed  as  his  co-pastor.  But  in 
a  little  more  than  two  years  this  new  relationship 
was  broken  through  the  co-pastor's  acceptance 
of  an  urgent  invitation  to  take  charge  of  a  church 
in  a  beautiful  village  some  forty  miles  from 
Buffalo.  Again  he  had  to  do  the  whole  work 
of  his  charge,  but  he  had  a  high  standard  of 
what  a  minister  should  be.  "  The  work  of  the 
ministry,"  so  he  wrote  in  his  journal  while  at 
Fayetteville,  "  is  an  exceedingly  great  and  labo- 
rious work,  a  work  which  requires  the  intellect 
of  an  Edwards,  the  piety  of  a  Brainard,  the 
zeal  of  a  Paul,  and  the  faith  of  an  Abraham  ;  " 
and  he  adds  the  prayer,  "  God  help  me  for 
His  Son's  sake."     God  answered  the  prayer;   he 


78  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD, 

had  done  a  great  work,  and  he  was  not  satisfied 
to  undertake  with  diminished  powers  that  which 
in  his  vigor  had  taxed  him  so  severely.  He 
asked  his  people  to  accept  his  resignation.  But 
he  had  baptized  many  of  them  when  they  were 
children.  He  had  heard  husband  and  wife  plight 
to  each  other  their  troth.  He  had  received  them 
into  the  membership  of  the  church.  He  had 
broken  to  them  the  emblems  of  Christ's  body. 
He  had  buried  their  dead.  He  had  wept  with 
them  in  their  sorrows.  He  had  rejoiced  with 
them  in  their  joy.  How  could  they  give  him  up? 
Against  his  own  judgment,  he  kept  on  for  a  time, 
but  at  last  he  over-persuaded  them,  and  was 
released  from  a  pastorate  which  he  had  continued 
for  thirty-eight  years. 

Many  of  us  here  to-night  never  knew  him 
at  all.  He  was  to  us,  what  Edmund  Burke  was 
to  those  who  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1794.  The  memory  of  his  great  efforts  was 
still  fresh  among  the  friends  of  his  more  vig- 
orous days.  We  saw  only  the  flashes  of  light, 
which  were  but  hints  of  the  bright  and  steady 
flame  which  had  burned  so  long.  His  mind 
had  been  so  trained,  both  by  the  study  of  law 
and  of  theology,  that  in  the  years  of  his  high- 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  79 

est  mental  activity,  every  subject  seemed  at  a 
glance  to  fall  in  pieces,  as  a  plant  beneath  the  eye 
of  a  skillful  botanist  is  in  a  moment  resolved  into 
its  component  parts.  While  other  men  were 
forced  to  dig  with  pick  and  bar  among  the  rocks 
for  the  hidden  truth,  to  him  at  the  first  blow,  the 
whole  mass  seemed  to  reveal  its  treasures.  He 
had  the  power — by  no  means  as  common  even 
among  great  scholars  as  could  be  desired — of 
seeing  more  than  one  side  of  a  subject.  This 
made  him  fair  in  his  statement  of  objections  to 
the  revealed  word.  In  his  famous  course  of  lec- 
tures to  young  men,  which  at  times  crowded  even 
the  aisles  of  this  edifice,  he  stated  the  difficulties 
of  skeptics  with  such  vividness  and  strength,  that 
timid  Christians  were  startled,  and  almost  holding 
their  breath,  would  wait  with  intense  eagerness, 
and  with  a  half-defined  fear  that  no  satisfactory 
answer  would  be  found.  But  the  sword  of  his 
logic  was  keen,  and  with  a  sigh  of  relief  they  saw 
it  cleave  the  head  of  the  giant  from  the  body. 

In  large  public  gatherings,  when  he  was  seen 
pushing  his  way  toward  the  platform,  a  sense  of 
satisfaction  came  at  once  to  all.  They  knew  the 
meeting  would  be  a  success.  A  writer  in  a  reli- 
gious paper  has  told   of  the  general  desire  that 


80  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

was  everywhere  manifested  to  hear  his  lectures; 
and  liis  orations  before  literary  societies.  He 
himself  had  ridden  on  one  hot  midsummer  day, 
more  than  forty  miles  in  an  open  wagon,  to  listen 
to  such  an  address.  That  the  effects  which  he 
produced  were  by  no  means  due  to  mere  oratori- 
cal power  is  amply  attested  by  the  judgment 
which  the  General  Assembly  passed  upon  his 
intellectual  ability  when  it  offered  him  a  Professor's 
Chair  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  But 
his  heart  was  here,  and  he  felt  that  even  so  flat- 
tering an  invitation  as  this  must  be  refused.  Like 
the  Breckenridges,  and  other  men  whose  names 
the  Church  will  never  forget,  he  was  by  no  means 
always  equal  in  his  public  efforts.  Neither  was  he 
careful  to  reserve  his  best  things  for  great  occa- 
sions. Upon  a  rainy  Sabbath,  or  at  the  Wednes- 
day-evening lecture,  some  of  his  most  beautiful 
thoughts  were  given  to  those  who  had  braved 
the  storm,  or  the  darkness.  But  it  was  not  in  his 
natural  gifts  for  public  speech  that  he  trusted  to 
win  men  to  Christ.  He  felt  intensely,  that  it  is 
not  by  might  or  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  that  the  work  is  to  be  carried  on,  and  for 
the  assistance  of  that  Spirit  he  never  ceased  to 
pray. 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  8 1 

His  character,  like  his  whole  nature,  was  strong. 
He  was  impetuous,  like  Peter,  though  the  Saviour, 
who  ever  kept  Peter  from  falling,  after  that  one 
sad  hour  of   denial,  kept  him  from  dangers  into 
which,  else,  he  would  have  been  led.     Like  nearly 
all    who    have    done    the    best    w^ork    for   Christ, 
he  had  great  animal  powers,  and  appetites,  and 
these  controlled,  directed   toward  one  point,  the 
glory  of  God,  made  him  the  successful  man  he 
was.      He   had  a  thorough    hatred  of  all  .shams, 
and  it  was  because  he  feared  that  by  writing  out 
his  religious  experiences  and  spiritual  yearnings, 
he  might  be  led  into  that  exaggeration,  which  he 
thought  he  had  perceived  in  many  memoirs,  that 
he  gave  up  the  journal,  which  he  had  begun  with 
motives    equally  sincere.     Such  a  character  was 
not  one  to  be  easily  blown  hither  and  thither  by 
every  wind   of   doctrine.     When  you   once  knew 
his   firm   convictions    on   any   important    subject, 
after  that  you  had  no  difficulty  in  knowing  where 
to  find   him.     If  ever,   for  the  time,  he  was  led 
into  any  path  of  doubt  or  unbelief,  he  w^aited  till 
he  came  again  into  the  full  light,  before  he  de- 
scribed the  dark  way  to  his  people,  so  that  by  no 
uncertain  words  was  the  rest  of  any  believing  one 
disturbed,  and    they  who  were  walking  in   dark- 


82  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

ness  were  encouraged  by  his  bright  and  hopeful 
counsel,  to  enter  again,  as  he  had,  into  the  light. 

He  never  brought  the  processes  through  which 
his  own  mind  had  passed  in  the  study,  into  the 
pulpit.  He  came  there  only  with  the  results  of 
his  work.  He  did  not  look  upon  the  house  of  God 
as  a  place  where  the  chaff  is  to  be  sifted  from  the 
wheat.  That  he  believed,  should  be  done  before 
the  sanctuary  was  entered,  so  that  only  the  pure 
grain  might  be  spread  out  before  the  people.  To 
his  kindness  of  heart,  great  enough  to  embrace 
even  the  dumb  creatures,  many  testimonials  have 
already  been  borne.  Strong  as  his  reasoning 
powers  were,  his  heart  was  stronger,  and  very 
often,  because  of  pity,  he  thrust  his  hand  deep 
into  his  pocket,  against  his  better  judgment.  He 
was  so  frank  himself,  that  it  was  hard  to  convince 
him  that  all  were  not  equally  honest  in  making 
those  statements  which  so  aroused  his  sympathy. 

The  things  that  were  lovely  and  of  good  report 
were  the  only  things  he  dwelt  upon  with  pleasure. 
Unlike  most  public  men,  he  was  always  ready  to 
attribute  the  best  motives,  whenever  the  proofs 
to  the  contrary  were  not  overwhelmingly  great. 
Already,  too,  by  the  pastor  of  the  Church  which 
was  his  spiritual  mother,  mention  has  been  made 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  83 

of  the  unbounded  generosity  which  characterized 
his  bearing  towards  his  successor.  I  have  often 
felt,  as  I  saw^  him  sitting  modestly  in  his  pew, 
how  unavaihng  all  efforts  of  mine  would  have 
been,  had  he  not  given  his  hearty  co-operation. 
Whenever,  for  a  moment,  there  has  been  a  ripple 
of  discord,  it  was  his  voice  that  cried  "peace," 
and  that  voice  was  always  obeyed.  Apparently 
his  greatest  desire  was  to  hide  himself,  so  that 
all  eyes  might  be  turned  away  from  the  past, 
of  which  he  had  so  long  been  the  central  figure, 
to  the  necessities  of  the  present,  believing  that 
only  thus  could  the  highest  prosperity  of  the 
Church  he  had  loved  and  nurtured  be  attained. 
He' lived  long  enough  to  see  the  answer  to  some 
of  the  prayers  he  had  offered,  in  a  measure  of 
success,  over  which  he  rejoiced  more  heartily 
than  any  of  us.  Then  he  felt  ready,  he  said,  to 
make  one  more  prayer,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  thou 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace." 

Never  again  shall  we  see  his  stalwart  form ; 
never  again  shall  we  hear  his  voice  pleading 
to  God  for  us,  but  by  him,  this  place  has 
been  filled  with  sacred  associations,  whose  many 
tongues  still  plead  with  us  that  his  God  might 
be    our    God.       If    we    have    heard    his    prayers 


84  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

and    counsels,    and    have    gone    away    unmoved, 
may  God    grant    that,  as  memory  brings    before 
us   that   form  and   face, — the  very  tones  of  that 
voice, — a  tear  of  repentance    shall    moisten    the 
cheek,  and  with  a  cry  of  sorrow  for  the  past  we 
shall   cast    ourselves   at    the.  feet   of  the  Saviour, 
of    whom    he    was    but    a    disciple.      Yet    once 
more,   not    in    memory    onl}-,    but    face    to    face, 
shall  we  all  look  upon  him.     In  that  great  day, 
when  the  books  shall    be  opened  and   the  quick 
and  the  dead   shall    stand    before   the  judgment 
throne  of  Christ,  he  will   be   there   and  we  shall 
be   there.     Will    the   look   upon   his   face  be   one 
of  sorrow  ?      Are  there  any  of   us  who,  through 
persistent  rejection  of  Christ,  must  in  that  hour 
be    told    to    depart    from    the    presence   of  God  ? 
Then,  not  the  least  terrible  of  the  stings  of  re- 
morse, will  be  the  remembrance  through  all  eter- 
nity,  of    the    words    we    have    heard    him    speak 
which  might  have  saved  us,  but  which  we  heeded 
not !     The  remembrance  of  that  look  of  anguish 
which  was  upon   his  face,  as  he  stood   upon   the 
right    hand    of    God,    that    they    A\hom    he    had 
loved,  have  lived  and  died  as  the  enemies  of  his 
Saviour.     To  be  lost  we  must   trample  under  foot 
the    love    of    Christ,   the    prayers    and    entreaties 


MEMORIAL   SERMON.  85 

of  Christian  parents  and  friends.  Yes,  we  must 
trample  under  foot  the  pleadings  of  those  lips 
now  silent  and  cold.  It  cannot  be.  Let  there 
come  from  the  depths  of  every  heart  this  night 
the  prayer  which  has  never  yet  been  unanswered, 
"  Save  me,  oh  God,  for  thy  Son's  sake." 

As  I  stand  and  look  over  this  great  congrega- 
tion, there  rises  before  me  the  vision  of  a  multi- 
tude more  vast  than  has  ever  been  encircled  by 
walls  of  stone.  It  is  the  vision  of  that  throng 
which  gathered  upon  the  battlements  of  Heaven 
last  Sabbath  evening,  just  as  the  church-bells  of 
earth  were  calling  men  into  the  sanctuary  to 
worship  God.  Angels  and  archangels  are  there ; 
apostles  and  prophets  are  there ;  among  them  are 
many  hundreds,  who  by  the  words  spoken  from 
this  pulpit,  through  the  years  of  the  past,  were 
brought  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Upon  their 
death-beds  the  hope  filled  their  hearts  that  they 
should  meet  him,  who  had  taught  them  the  way 
of  life,  when  his  turn  should  come  to  cross  the 
dark  river.  With  shouts  of  gladness  they  wel- 
come him  safe  home  at  last !  But  he  lingers  not. 
Through  the  streets  of  gold  he  presses  his  way 
till  he  stands  by  the  throne  of  Him  who  died 
that  we  might   live;    and    as   he   lays   his   bright 


86  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

crown  before  the  pierced  feet  of  Jesus,  he  speaks. 
Listen  !  are  not  these  the  words  that  come  from 
his  Hps?  "Not  unto  us,  O  Lord;  not  unto  us, 
but  unto  thy  name  give  glor}-,  for  thy  mercy  and 
for  thy  truth's  sake." 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  87 


MEMORIAL  PAPER. 


A   PAPER   BY    THE    HON.   JAMES   O.    PUTNA^r. 

Read  be/ore  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  April  =>,  iS^J. 


The  Historical  Society  devotes  a  passing  hour 
to  reminiscence  and  study  of  the  life,  character, 
and  career  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  John  C.  Lord : 

He  was  born  in  Washington,  New  Hampshire, 
on  the  ninth  of  August,  1805,  and  was  the  son  of 
Rev.  John  Lord  and  Sarah  Chase,  who  was  the 
cousin  of  the  late  Chief-Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase. 
At  the  age  of  tweh^e  years  he  entered  Plainfield 
Academy,  in  his  native  State.  He  subsequently 
entered  Madison  Academy,  and  afterwards  Ham- 
ilton College  of  New  York,  where  he  remained 
two  years.  He  graduated  in  the  same  class  with 
our  distinguished  fellow-townsmen,  Judge  Clinton, 
and  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Foote.  After  two 
years'  editorial  experience  in  Canada,  he  came  to 
Buffalo    in   1825,  entering   the  office  of  Love    & 


88  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

Tracy,  then  the  leading  law  firm  in  Western  New 
York.  He  taught  a  select  school  for  a  few 
months,  having  Orsamus  H.  Marshall,  Esq.,  and 
Dr.  James  P.  White  as  pupils.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar  in  1828.  In  the  latter  part  of  that  year 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Johnson,  daughter 
of  the  late  Dr.  Ebenezer  Johnson,  the  first 
Mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  one  of  its  leading  citizens. 
That  marriage  had  its  specially  romantic  incident, 
which  survives  a  pleasant  tradition  of  the  time. 
In  the  same  year  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Judge  Love,  which  continued  about  two  years. 
During  those  years  he  held  several  civil  and  mil- 
itary commissions,  the  prizes  offered  to  the  enter- 
prise and  talent  of  young  professional  aspirants. 

He  brought  to  his  profession,  talent,  health, 
and  ambition.  He  had  also,  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  a  faculty  for  accumulation,  and  a  stimu- 
lating love  of  property.  •  He  had  the  forecast  and 
the  pluck,  \\hich,  with  opportunit}',  lead  to  for- 
tune. There  seemed  no  element  wanting  to 
assure  him  the  largest  success  in  his  chosen 
profession. 

Yet  in  the  midst  of  his  earl}-  triumphs,  to  the 
surprise  of  all  who  had  watched  his  auspicious 
beginning,  he  heard  the  \'oice  which  arrested  Paul 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  89 

on  that  journey  to  Damascus,  and  obeyed  it. 
From  that  hour  he  turned  his  back  on  all  the 
allurements  of  a  worldly  ambition,  for  the  labors 
and  sacrifices  of  the  ministerial  office.  This  act, 
which  shaped  all  his  long  public  career,  reveals,  as 
nothing  else  could  do,  the  ardor  of  his  nature, 
the  depth  of  his  convictions,  and  the  fountain 
springs  of  his  character. 

After  uniting  with  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  this  city,  he  entered  the  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  in  1830,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated in  1833. 

He  was  soon  called  to  Geneseo,  and  for  two 
years  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
that  village.  During  that  time  occurred  in  his 
Church,  and  in  the  community,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  revivals  in  the  history  of  Western  New 
York.  The  Doctor  often  referred  to  that  move- 
ment as  one  of  the  most  interesting  with  which 
he  had  ever  been  associated.  In  November,  1825, 
his  mother-church,  "  the  Old  First,"  had  reached 
a  stage  of  growth  when  colonization  became  a 
necessity,  and  she  planted  the  first  of  those  more 
recent  Churches  which  represent  the  Prcsb)'tcrian 
interest  in  Buffalo. 


go  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

The  Pearl  Street  Church  was  organized  in  1835, 
worshiping  at  first  in  a  temporary  building.  Doctor 
Lord,  the  favorite  son  of  the  First  Church,  was 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  new  enterprise.  In 
1836,  was  erected  a  beautiful  church  edifice,  which 
from  its  peculiar  interior  construction  was  famil- 
iarly called  "  the  goose  egg."  I  have  seen  grander 
churches  at  home  and  abroad,  but  St.  Peter's  in 
Rome  hardly  made  a  stronger  impression  on  my 
mind  in  my  mature  years,  than  did  that  unique 
Pearl  Street   Church  on  my  youthful  fancy. 

I  attended  its  Sabbath  service  in  the  fall  of 
1836  or  1837,  on  the  occasion  of  a  chance  visit  to 
Buffalo.  It  was  without  galleries,  its  audience 
room  of  oval  form,  the  pulpit  at  the  street  end, 
and  the  orchestra  at  the  rear.  A  full  band,  at 
least  to  my  fancy  it  was  full,  furnished  the  instru- 
mental music.  The  blare  of  trumpets,  and  the 
harp,  and  the  sackbut,  and  the  viol,  seemed  to 
realize  the  musical  glories  of  the  old  temple  ser- 
vice. I  had  never  before  heard  any  instrument 
in  worship  of  more  cunning  workmanship  than 
the  wooden  pitch-pipe,  and  the  steel  tuning-fork, 
which  were  accustomed  to  launch  "Mear"  and 
"Dundee,"  "China"  and  "Silver  Street,"  and 
kindred  melodies,  upon  the  air  of  ni)'  native  vil- 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  9 1 

lagc  church.  That  orchestral  magnificence  still 
haunts  my  imagination.  I  aju  sorry  "  the  goose 
egg  "  was  made  a  victim  to  the  spirit  of  modern 
improvement. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  Doctor  Lord's 
Buffalo  career.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the 
needs  of  his  congregation  demanded  a  large  edi- 
fice, and  the  present  magnificent  church  in  whose 
parlors  we  are  now  assembled,  was  built,  and  the 
Society  reorganized  under  the  name  of  the  Cen- 
tral Presbyterian  Church  of  Buffalo.  And  here, 
from  about  1850,  until  his  final  retirement  from 
the  pulpit,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  tie, 
Dr.  Lord  ministered  in  season  and  out  of  season 
to  his  people.  Here  were  delivered  those  great 
sermons  and  orations  which  placed  him  in  the 
front  rank  of  American  pulpit  orators.  He  made 
this  church  edifice  by  his  labors  and  sacrifices,  by 
his  intellectual  force  and  the  power  of  his  genius, 
monumental. 

The  life  of  an  able  man  is  revealed  by  his  opin- 
ions, his  advocacy  of  them,  and  his  character. 
And  in  the  case  of  Doctor  Lord  it  is  pre-eminently 
true  that  these  constitute,  in  a  larsfe  decrree,  his 
personality,  and  to  them  we  must  direct  our 
studies  for  a  just  appreciation  of  him.     If  in   my 


92  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

brief  sketch  I  shall  draw  on  him  for  ilkistration,  I 
do  so  because  they  are  better  than  any  I  can 
offer,  and  because  we  are  met  here,  by  the  altars 
where  he  ministered,  to  commune  with  his  spirit, 
and  to  catch  a  fresh  inspiration  from  his  thought 
and  life. 

Doctor  Lord  was  for  many  years  a  large  part  of 
the  intellectual,  the  moral,  and  in  its  best  sense, 
the  political  history  of  Buffalo.  During  the  mid- 
dle period  of  his  life  there  was  not  a  question  in 
Church  or  State  of  general  public  interest,  in 
which  he  was  not  a  leader  of  opinion  on  one  side 
or  the  other. 

In  some  respects  he  was  a  man  of  the  past, 
rather  than  the  present.  His  intellectual  and 
theological  sympathies  were  moulded  by  the  ear- 
lier time  and  in  the  severe  school  of  the  Fathers 
rather  than  by  the  advanced  opinion  of  later 
thinkers  and  actors.  Both  by  mental  organiza- 
tion and  training  he  preferred  the  old  ways  to  the 
new,  and  for  primal  truths  would  seek  what  he 
regarded  the  golden  morn  of  time,  rather  than 
our  meridian  whose  brightness  he  would  not 
always  take  for  light.  Some  of  the  grandest 
intellectual  dispku's  ever  -witnessed  among  us 
were  his  pulpit   and   platform   defenses  of  the  oltl 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  93 

philosophies,  the  old  theology,  the  old  economies 
of  Church  and  State.  There  are  yet  some  who 
remember  those  occasions  when  he  delivered  his 
popular  addresses,  kindling  with  his  own  zeal  the 
thousands  who  were  under  the  spell  of  his  mag- 
netic eloquence  and  thought.  There  were  some 
seeming  contradictions  in  his  positions  at  different 
times  on  some  questions ;  but  they  were  only 
seeming.  His  life  of  opinions  was  a  harmony. 
Even  his  Higher  Law  sermon,  the  boldest  expres- 
sion of  his  life,  and  the  most  defiant  of  the  gen- 
eral sentiment  on  the  question  of  slavery  and  on 
the  relations  of  human  government  to  the  people 
and  to  God,  was  perfectly  consistent  with  his  later 
position  after  slavery  had  thrown  the  gage  of 
battle  at  the  feet  of  the  nation. 

These  characteristics  and  the  fact  that  he  was 
a  polemic  actor,  as  well  as  a  closet  student,  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  for  any  correct  appreciation  of 
his  public  life.  In  theology,  he  was  a  Calvinist. 
Had  he  been  nurtured  by  St.  Augustine,  and 
trained  by  the  great  Genevan,  he  could  not  have 
been  a  more  earnest  champion  of  the  doctrines, 
in  all  their  length  and  breadth,  and  in  their  widest 
applications,  to  which  they  have  given  name.  If 
we  consider  the   tendencies   of  thought,  both   in 


94  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

Europe  and  America,  at  the  time  Dr.  Lord  en- 
tered upon  the  ministry,  and  remember  the  semi- 
revolutionary  attitude  of  leaders  abroad  and  at 
home,  on  social  and  religious  questions,  we  shall 
not  fail  to  see,  that  positive  and  controversial  as 
was  the  character  of  his  mind,  he  must  adopt 
affirmative  opinions  on  the  whole  range  of  ques- 
tions agitating  the  public  mind,  and  maintain 
them  with  a  zeal  allied  to  passion.  About  con- 
temporary with  his  entry  upon  the  ministry,  the 
European  wave  of  German  philosophy  and  tran- 
scendental mysticism,  which  had  done  so  much  to 
disturb  the  old  systems  of  belief  in  Germany,  and 
after  their  introduction  by  Carlyle,  in  England, 
struck  the  New  England  coast,  and  their  influence 
was  soon  felt  in  all  schools  of  religious  thought. 
It  was  at  the  period  of  the  Doctor's  settlement 
here  in  his  new  profession  that  Emerson  was 
introducing  the  followers  of  Channing  to  those 
liberal  fields,  where  so  many  now  find  pasturage 
in  the  oriental  doctrine  of  the  Over  Soul.  The 
transcendentalists  were  dreaming  their  dreams  at 
Brook-Farm,  presenting  them  to  the  public  in  the 
most  fascinating  forms  of  modern  culture.  In 
the  more  orthodox  schools,  15ushnell,  Barnes, 
Bcecher,    Ta)'lor    and     others,    were    maintaining 


MEMORIAL   PArER.  95 

their  new  interpretations  of  Scripture  before  coun- 
cils and  assemblies,  some  of  them  passing  that 
once  terrible  ordeal — the  trial  for  heresy. 

Tractarian  Ritualism,  too,  was  at  its  height  in 
the  English  Church,  and  its  mediaeval  spirit  was 
startling  the  staid  Protestantism  of  both  hemi- 
spheres. Superadded  to  these  disturbing  ele- 
ments in  the  theologic  world.  Science  appeared, 
pressing  its  audacious  footstep  in  every  field  of 
legitimate  inquiry,  astonishing  by  its  revelations 
as  to  the  age  and  method  of  creation,  and  filling 
the  minds  of  many  good  men  with  fears  that  they 
would  lead  the  world  to  the  sty  of  Epicurus  and 
the  negations  of  Atheism. 

At  the  same  period,  another  wave,  humani- 
tarian rather  than  religious,  came  rolling  in  upon 
us  from  England,  a  wave  first  evoked  by  the 
spells  of  Sharp  and  Wilberforce,  and  Clarkson, 
and  which,  after  a  struggle  of  forty  weary  years, 
in  defiance  of  the  hostility  of  the  Established 
Church  and  the  English  aristocracy,  had  abol- 
ished the  African  slave  trade,  abolished  slavery 
in  the  British  colonies,  and  threatened*  to  over- 
throw in  methods  wholly  revolutionary  our  own 
peculiar  institution  which  had  grown  up  under, 
and  was   protected   by,  our  Federal    Constitution 


96  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

and  laws.  In  short,  the  time  of  his  settlement 
here  in  the  ministry  was  one  of  extraordinary 
ferment,  of  intellectual  audacity,  of  social  experi- 
ment and  of  revolutionary  tendencies  in  Church 
and  State. 

Doctor  Lord's  zeal  for  the  old  theology,  and 
his  attitude  on  the  slavery  question,  Avere  greatly 
stimulated  to  aggressive  action  by  the  new  move- 
ments. The  sovereignty  of  law  as  the  represent- 
ative of  a  sovereign  God,  and  human  society  as 
a  special  organization  by  the  divine  econom}', 
were  with  him  central  truths,  the  only  foundations 
of  a  true  social  philosophy,  or  of  just  systems  of 
law  and  government  for  men.  And  on  the  thresh- 
hold  of  these  revolutionary  movements  he  planted 
himself  upon  the  old  doctrines,  a  conservative  of 
conservatives,  contending  for  the  pld  ideas,  the 
old  formulas,  and  the  old  economies.  After  the 
disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1837, 
there  was  but  one  ultimate  choice  possible  for 
him.  He  must  go  with  the  Conservatives.  To 
the  adherents  of  either  party  who  saw  below  the 
surface,  and  felt  the  ground  swell  of  the  revolution, 
"  Old  School  "  and  "  New  School,"  represented 
antagonisms  which    survived    during    the   slavery 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  97 

discus.-;ion,  and  until  both  bodies  were  liberalized 
by  a  new  generation. 

His  ideas  of  the  State,  and  its  relations  to  the 
citizen,  revealed  the  harmony  between  Doctor 
Lord  the  statesman,  and  Doctor  Lord  the  pub- 
licist and  theologian.  This  harmony  is  clearly 
brought  to  view  in  his  celebrated  Thanksgiving 
Sermon  in  1850,  "On  the  Higher  Law  as  applica- 
ble to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill."  His  theological 
system  declaring  the  divine  institution  of  human 
governments  and  the  sovereignty  of  human  law 
as  the  reflex  of  divine  law,  furnishes  the  basal 
principle  of  that  sermon.  There  was  much  in  the 
angry  controversy  at  the  time,  much  in  the  peril 
many  men  believed  to  be  menacing  the  stability 
of  the  government,  which  gave  point  to  the  dis- 
course, but  its  logic  flowed  from  the  principle  1 
have  stated. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Seward,  in  a 
speech  in  the  Senate  resisting  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  had  avowed  the  higher  law  doctrine. 
"  There  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution  " 
was  his  formula.  In  a  period  of  calm  there  was 
nothing  in  this  declaration  which  had  been  start- 
ling. It  was  not  novel ;  it  was  old  as  human 
thought.     It  was  uttered   by  Cicero  in  language 


98  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

whose  feeblest  translation  is  as  full  of  beauty  as 
it  is  of  truth.  "  There  is,"  he  says,  "  a  law  which 
is  not  one  thing  at  Rome,  another  at  Athens,  one 
thing  to-day  and  another  to-morrow,  but  one  and 
the  same,  eternal  and  immutable  among  all 
nations,  and  in  all  time."  Sophocles,  of  the 
Greeks,  had  said  in  one  of  his  tragedies  by  a 
character  defying  legitimate  but  unjust  authority: 

"  Nor  of  such    force  thy  edicts  did   I   deem, 
That  mortal,  as  thou  art,  thou  hast  the  power 
To  overthrow  the  firm  unwritten  laws 
Of  the  just  Gods.     These  are  not  of  to-day, 
Or  yesterday,  but  through  all  ages  live." 

It  has  been  accepted  by  moral  philosophers  of 
all  times.  The  sentiment,  properly  interpreted, 
is  written  on  the  universal  heart  of  man.  It  is 
the  instinct  of  the  human  conscience.  But 
thrown  out  by  our  great  senator  as  apparent  jus- 
tification of  disobedience  to  a  statute,  obedience 
to  which  seemed  to  be  the  condition  of  national 
peace,  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  should  have 
provoked  alarm.  He  maintained  in  that  sermon 
the  divine  character  of  government  and  the  duty 
of  the  citizen  because  it  was  divine,  to  obey  the 
laws.  He  laid  down  this  formula:  "The  action  of 
civil  governments,  within  their  appropriate  juris- 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  99 

diction,  is  final  and  conclusive  upon  the  citizen." 
This  theory  of  entire  subjection  to  existing  civil 
authority  he  claimed  to  find  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  the  example  and 
practice  of  the  primitive  Christians.  His  sermon 
throughout  maintained  his  favorite  theory  that 
Christianity  did  not  come  into  the  world  a  force 
directly  addressed  to  governments  or  to  society. 
The  general  doctrines  of  the  sermon  never  had 
more  brilliant  advocacy.  It  was  universally 
accepted  as  the  ablest  exposition  of  the  conserv- 
ative view  of  the  ^relations  of  the  citizen  to  the 
government  which  appeared  from  the  pulpit  of 
the  time.  It  gave  him  a  national  reputation. 
By  the  one  side  he  was  accepted  as  a  prophet,  by 
the  other  as  an  apostate  from  the  principles  of 
liberty.  In  a  speech  by  Mr.  Webster,  at  Syracuse, 
in  185 1,  defending  his  own  seventh  of  March 
speech  in  the  Senate,  he  said  :  "  They  denounce 
me  as  a  fit  associate  of  Benedict  Arnold  and  Pro- 
fessor Stuart,  and  Dr.  Lord.  I  would  be  glad  to 
strike  out  Benedict  Arnold  ;  as  for  the  rest  I  am 
proud  of  their  company."  It  was  only  after  the 
storm  of  1850  had  culminated  in  civil  war,  result- 
ing in  the  overthrow  of  the  power  which  raised 
the  controversy,  that  the  bitterness  of  the  contest 


lOO  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

subsided  and  all  parties  began  to  act  harmoniously 
in  the  new  era  of  homogeneous  institutions.  We 
now  begin  to  do  justice  to  the  great  actors  in  that 
drama.  Calumny  and  detraction  on  the  one  side 
and  excessive  adulation  on  the  other,  were  equally 
offensive  to  Truth,  who  serenely  awaits  the  final 
judgment  of  history.  The  last  year  has  seen 
erected  in  the  metropolis  of  our  State,  memorial 
statues  of  the  two  foremost  leaders  on  either  side, 
and  the  American  people  have  united  in  placing 
the  unfading  laurel  on  the  brows  of  Webster  and 
Seward. 

Another  position  of  the  higher  law  sermon, 
provoking,  if  possible,  still  sharper  criticism,  was 
its  defense  of  the  relation  of  slavery  because 
approved  by  the  political  system  of  Moses.  To 
this  the  time  had  its  answer.  It  was  denied  that 
American  slavery  in  the  nineteenth  century  could 
be  justified  by  the  civil  code  of  semi-savage  tribes, 
recently  emerged  from  a  condition  of  foreign  sub- 
jugation and  slavery,  who  had  never  risen  above 
the  lex  talionis  for  private  wrongs,  and  who  pun- 
ished with  death  the  smallest  departure  from  their 
social  and  sumptuary  laws. 

While  he  so  defended  the  purely  legal  aspects 
of  slavery,  neither  in    that    sermon,  nor    in    any 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  lOI 

utterance  of  his  public  or  private  life,  did  he  ever 
apologize  for  the  cruelties  of  the  institution,  or 
claim  that  it  was  other  than  a  relic  of  a  bar- 
baric past. 

No  social  blandishments  could  weaken  his 
vision  or  warp  his  judgment  on  a  question  of  hu- 
manity. Whether  he  ever  modified  his  views 
upon  the  scriptural  argument,  I  do  not  know,  but 
it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  when  slavery  laid 
its  hand  on  the  Ark  of  the  Union,  Doctor  Lord's 
patriotism  rose  to  the  height  of  the  occasion,  and 
during  the  four  years  of  defensive  war  for  the 
Government  there  was  no  voice  in  the  land  of 
clearer,  grander  tone  for  liberty  and  the  Union 
than  his.  There  were  no  abler  discussions  of  the 
whole  controversy  involved  in  that  struggle,  no 
more  impassioned  appeals  to  the  patriotism  of 
the  country  than  are  to  be  found  in  his  political 
sermons  of  that  time.  Their  spirit  may  be  di- 
vined by  this  single  sentence  from  a  Thanksgiving 
sermon  of  the  war  period,  which  closes  his  review 
of  the  purpose  of  the  Confederates  to  make 
slavery  the  controlling  power  of  this  continent : 

"  For  myself,  I  had  rather  the  Almighty  should 
sink  the  continent  in  the  sea,  or  that  the  nation 

should  nobly  perish  on  the  battle-field  for  freedom, 

8 


102  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

than  submit  to  this  inglorious  result — to  the 
lamentable  degradation  of  our  national  prostra- 
tion at  the  footstool  of  slav^ery." 

He  had  but  one  way  of  defending  a  cause  dear 
to  him — with  all  his  might.  He  had  no  reserve, 
he  cut  down  the  bridges  and  burned  the  ships 
that  there  could  be  no  retreat  from  the  line  of 
action  sanctioned  by  his  head,  and  approved  by 
his  heart.  And  in  that  crisis  his  patriotism  was  a 
holy  passion.  How  perfectly  he  was  in  sympathy 
with  the  policy  of  final  emancipation,  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated  by  his  poem  entitled, 

"  TJie  Silent   Sorroiu  of  the  Enfi-ancJiised  Slave. 

Suggested  by  the  Obsequies  of  President  Lineoln 

in  Buffalo y 

It  might  fittingly  close  this  review  of  a  contro- 
versial incident  in  his  life,  which  more  than  any 
other  gave  prominence  to  his  career.  Its  closing 
stanzas  are  as  follows  : 

Ah  !  who  can  know  their  untold  agony, 

To  whom  his  death  appears  tlie  crowning  loss  ? — 

So  the  disciples  feared  on  that  dread  day 

When  the  great  Sufferer  hung  upon  the  Cross. 

The  sable  mother,  as  her  eyes  grow  dim, 
Wails  o'er  her  first-born  by  the  cottage  fire  ; 

Freedom,  though  late  for  her  is  all  to  him — 
Must  it,  alas  !  with  that  great  life  expire  ? 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  IO3 

Old  scarred  and  palsied  slaves,  who  from  the  shore 
Of  burning  Afric,  in  their  youth  were  torn, 

Bow  down  in  speechless. misery  before 
The  tale  of  horror  on  the  breezes  borne  ! 

They  know  not  that  the  manner  of  his  death 
Forever  seals  their  chartered  rights  as  men — 

That  in  their  martyr's  last  expiring  breath, 
The  Nation  heard  these  solemn  words  again. 

Two  hundred  years  of  unrequited  toil 
Have  heaped  up  treasures  for  this  day  of  blood, 

And  every  drop  of  slave  gore  on  our  soil 
Demands  another  from  the  Sword  of  God. 

While  his  theological  system  led  him  to  the 
conservative  action  we  have  reviewed,  no  man 
brought  a  larger  sympathy  to  oppressed  peoples. 
And  while  it  is  true  that  he  rejected  the  social 
contract  theory  of  the  origin  of  States,  yet  in  the 
Higher  Law  sermon  he  distinctly  maintained  the 
right  of  revolution  for  adequate  cause. 

Mazzini  himself  could  hardly  have  hailed  with 
more  enthusiasm  the  revolutions  of  1848  in  Eu- 
rope. The  democratic  spirit  of  that  time  had  no 
grander  interpreter  of  its  passion  and  its  hope. 

His  poem  entitled,  "  Kings  and  Thrones  are 
Fallino-,"  was  hailed  on  both  continents  as  an  em- 


I04  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

bodimcnt    of   the   spirit   of   the   epoch.     Let    me 
recall  to  you  a  few  of  its  ringing  stanzas  : 

Kings  and  thrones  are  falling, 

The  sound  comes  o'er  the  sea, 
Deep  unto  deep  is  calling 
To  the  conflict  of  the  free. 
At  the  voices  of  the  Nations,  like  the  roaring  of  a  flood, 
The  sun  is  turned  to  darkness,  the  moon  is  changed  to  blood. 

The  word  of  power  is  spoken 
In  accents  loud  and  long  ; 
The  iron  chain  is  broken 

From  the  ankles  of  the  strong  ; 
The  blind  and  beaten  giant,  is  staggering  up  at  length, 
And  the  jDillars  of  his  prison-house  begin  to  feel  his  strength. 

The  powers  of  earth  are  shaking 

From  the  Danube  to  the  Rhine, 

Old  Germany  is  waking 

Like  a  Cyclop  from  his  wine. 

And  dark  his  brow  with  hatred,  and  red  his  eye  with  wrath. 

While  he  scatters  his  tormentors  like  pigmies  from  his  path. 

King  or  priest  shall  never 
Rebuild  the  broken  wall. 
For  thought  is  freed  forever 
And  truth  is  now  for  all. 
The  startled  nations  hear  a  voice  through  heaven  and  earth 

resound, 
The  everlastine:  word  of  God  shall  never  more  be  bound. 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  IO5 

The  revolution  was  crushed,  but  its  spirit  sur- 
vived in  the  popular  heart,  and  to-day  France, 
Germany  and  Italy  have  entered  upon  their 
careers  of  regeneration.  The  Doctor  was  right, 
only  right  too  soon. 

In  the  middle  portion  of  his  ministry  the  Doc- 
tor delivered  occasional  lectures  on  questions  of 
interest.  In  a  scries  before  the  Young  Men's 
Association,  he  developed  his  theory  of  civiliza- 
tion and  progress.  They  presented  many  original 
views.  He  maintained  that  civilization  was  the 
original  condition  of  man,  so  cutting  from  the 
roots  the  theory  of  development.  Eden  blos- 
somed with  the  highest  intelligence,  and  the 
earliest  races  and  peoples  were  at  the  acme  of 
culture.  Civilization  was  normal,  and  progress 
was  toward  barbarism.  This  view  flowed  out  of 
his  theological  system.  Man,  when  first  created 
in  the  image  of  God,  was  at  the  highest  point  of 
culture.  Man's  transgression  sowed  the  seeds  of 
decadence,  which  in  time  resulted  in  corruption 
and  barbarism.  From  this  condition  peoples 
were  rescued  by  the  restoration  of  indvidual  man 
to  purity  through  religious  culture. 

In   the   same   series  of   lectures,  and   on   other 
occasions,  he   took   issue  with   the  broad  schools 


Io6  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

of  every  name  on  the  subject  of  a  progressive 
Christianity.  There  could  be  no  new  interpre- 
tations of  Scripture,  no  modifications  to  meet 
new  systems  of  thought,  or  a  progressive  school 
of  social  philosophy. 

The  theory  of  Guizot,  as  developed  in  his  His- 
tory of  Civilization,  that  Christianity  addressed 
itself  to  the  individual  and  not  to  social  or  polit- 
ical institutions,  he  maintained  with  great  ability. 
The  Higher  Law  sermon  was  largely  a  develop- 
ment of  that  idea.  I  may  say  that  in  this  posi- 
tion Dr.  Lord  had  the  sympathy  of  the  conserva- 
tive school  in  all  Christian  Churches.  It  was  one 
of  the  series  of  rocks  on  which  the  Presbyterian 
Church  split  in  1837,  '^"'^  ^s  the  slavery  contro- 
versy advanced,  the  two  antagonistic  systems  of 
Christian  philosophy  became  more  pronounced. 
Was  Christianity  a  principle  addressed  to  the 
individual,  or  was  it,  as  well,  a  force  thrown  into 
the  field  of  the  world  to  act  upon  institutions 
social  and  political  ?  If  the  first  lu'pothesis  were 
the  true,  then  slaver}',  and  poor-laws,  and  the 
treatment  of  the  criminal  and  insane,  indeed  all 
the  social  questions  which  are  pressing  on  us  for 
solution  through  law  and  governmental  policy, 
are    outside    the    immediate    action    of   Christian 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  10/ 

principles  and  the  Christian  Church.  If  the 
second  hypothesis  be  the  true,  then  Christianity 
is  not  only  a  power  acting  on  individuals,  but  it 
addresses  itself  as  a  law  to  every  element  of 
society  and  to  every  institution  in  the  State. 

The  advanced  view  of  our  day  is  a  logical  one. 
It  was  a  matter  of  course  that,  as  the  theologic 
spirit  declined,  the  humane  spirit  of  Christianity 
should  advance.  And  the  decline  of  the  theo- 
logic spirit  results  from  the  fundamental  idea  of 
the  Reformation — the  right  of  private  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture,  coupled  with  the  develop- 
ment of  social  and  political  institutions.  This 
progress  is  not  in  the  principles  of  Christianity, 
for  no  philosophy  can  rise  higher  than  its  head- 
lands, but  in  the  better  vision  of  our  time.  I 
think  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
whole  history  of  Christianity  has  been  a  history 
of  development,  slow  but  necessary,  and  every 
step  one  of  Providential  training  of  the  race  from 
high  to  higher.  St.  Simon  Stylites,  of  the  fifth 
century,  sitting  on  his  pillar  sixty  feet  in  the  air 
for  thirty  years,  was  the  model  saint  of  his  period. 
The  crusaders  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centu- 
ries were  an  advance  upon  the  ascetic  of  the 
desert.      The    intellectual   activities   of    Luther's 


I08  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

day  amid  the  perpetual  tramp  of  armies  over 
Europe,  stimulated  the  thought  of  the  age,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  a  new  era  of  institutions. 

The  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  fraternity  of  men  and  the  uni- 
versal fatherhood  of  God,  were  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament from  the  beginning,  but  out  of  the  range 
of  human  vision  until  the  time  of  Howard  and 
Wilberforce.  The  horizon  of  one  era  is  the  me- 
ridian of  another,  and  in  the  procession  of  the 
ages  all  his  constellations  will  shed  their  light 
on  the  children  of  God.  Says  George  Fox,  in 
his  journal:  "And  I  saw  that  there  was  an 
ocean  of  Darkness  and  death ;  but  an  infinite 
ocean  of  light  and  love  flowed  over  the  ocean 
of  darkness,  and  in  that  I  saw  the  infinite  love 
of  God." 

To-day,  after  nearly  eighteen  hundred  years  of 
struggle  for  its  just  position  in  the  world,  the 
social  spirit  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  as 
revealed  in  the  incidents  of  his  life  and  in  his 
Parables,  has  come  to  the  front  and  leads  our 
era.  It  is  the  motive  power  of  every  humane 
and  philanthropic  movement.  Even  the  few 
philosophers  who,  like  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Har- 
riet Martincau,  co-operate  in  these  modern  move- 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  IC9 

mcnts,  whether  or  not  they  acknowledge  their 
obhgation,  find  their  best  inspiration  in  Jesus. 
The  great  service  of  men  who,  Hke  Doctor  Lord, 
stood  in  the  old  ways  and  acted  as  breakwaters 
to  the  flood  of  new  ideas,  was  this,  and  it  cannot 
be  overestimated.  They  held  on  to  the  solid 
body  of  doctrine  without  which  Christianity  de- 
generates from  a  religion  to  a  philosophy,  so  pre- 
venting a  precipitate  radical  revolution,  until  the 
new  and  'old  ideas  could  adjust  themselves  to 
each  other,  and  act,  as  they  now  do,  in  accord 
in  their  mission  to  man  and  to  society. 

In  search  of  the  central  principle  of  the  life 
of  Dr.  Lord  as  it  flowed  out  to  the  world  through 
his  intellect  and, through  his  heart,  I  believe  I 
find  it  in  his  faith  in  the  divine.  Deity  was  as 
an  atmosphere  in  which  his  spirit  consciously 
lived  and  wrought.  Priest  or  prophet  never  wor- 
shiped with  more  awe  the  uncreated  Source  of 
Law  and  Love.  Li  this  connection,  remember- 
ing with  what  vigor  in  his  best  days  the  Doctor 
combated  the  materialistic  tendencies  of  certain 
schools,  it  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  know  his  last 
thoughts,  and  to  catch  his  dying  testimony.  Dur- 
ing the  session  of  the  Scientific  Association  in 
Buffalo,  in   August   last,  I  found  him  one  day   in 


no  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

his  librar\%  his  mind  occupied  with  the  discus- 
sions of  the  week.  He  at  once  opened  upon  the 
evokition  theory  of  man.  His  defense  of  his  old- 
time  views  of  the  existence  of  God,  of  man  as 
created  in  His  image,  and  man's  need  of  a  relig- 
ious faith,  recalled  the  Dr.  Lord  of  twenty  years 
ago.  I  shall  never  forget  these  words,  nor  his 
face,  almost  transfigured,  as  he  uttered  them : 
"  They  cannot  dethrone  God,  they  cannot  over- 
throw His  word,  and  I  laugh  them  to  scorn,  I 
laugh  them  to  scorn." 

His  long  ministry  occurred,  as  we  have  seen, 
at  a  transition  period.  He  could,  at  its  close, 
look  over  the  field  and  see  that,  after  all  the  up- 
heavals and  changes  of  the  time,  the  principles 
of  Christianity  were  more  firmly  entrenched  than 
ever  in  the  hearts  of  men.  He  could  well  afford 
to  laugh  at  any  school  who  hoped  to  strike  out 
of  human  consciousness,  faith  and  trust  in  an 
Author  and  Ruler  of  the  world.  So  long  as  man 
suffers  and  sorrows,  so  long  as  the  spiritual  faculty 
survives,  so  long  as  the  sentiment  of  reverence 
and  worship,  the  primal  instincts  of  man,  lead 
his  soul  to  the  great  ideals  of  virtue  and  good- 
ness which,  begin   where    the\'  will,  culminate   in 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  Ill 

Deity,  materialism  will  never  usurp  the  altars  of 
religion  in  human  households. 

Dr.  Lord  was  not  an  exact  scholar,  nor  did  he 
make  pretensions  to  be  such.  He  loved  historic 
studies,  but  I  do  not  think  he  brought  to  them 
the  absolute  judicial  faculty,  rare,  if  it  ever  ex- 
ists, in  earnest  natures.  Because  of  this  he  was 
the  more  powerful  advocate  and  confident  leader. 
His  force  was  never  weakened  by  hesitating  opin- 
ions after  his  position  was  once  taken. 

As  a  preacher  he  attained  great  distinction. 
He  had  repeated  calls  to  several  of  the  strongest 
and  most  important  Churches  of  the  country. 
New  York,  Pittsburgh  and  Mobile  sought  to  win 
him  from  Buffalo,  by  inducements  which  required 
a  strong  man  to  resist. 

He  supplied  a  pulpit,  prior  to  1850,  in  Mobile 
for  six  months,  while  he  sought  an  escape  from 
the  rigors  of  our  winter  climate.  There  was  a 
time,  about  1848,  when,  wearied  with  the  loneli- 
ness of  his  position  as  the  pastor  of  the  only 
Old-School  Church  here,  he  was  inclined  to  ac- 
cept the  Pittsburgh  call.  The  Doctor  felt  his 
isolation  keenly.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  per- 
sons, but  was  the  natural  result  of  the  sharp 
controversies    in   which    he   gave    blows   quite   as 


112  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

hard  as  he  received.  In  those  days  clerg}'mcn 
of  different  ecclesiastical  relations  had  much  less 
fellowship  with  each  other  than  now.  They  had 
not  yet  discovered  as,  to  some  extent,  they  have 
since,  and,  unless  the  world  comes  to  a  stand- 
still, will  to  a  still  greater,  that  nothing  enlarges 
the  clerical  vision  like  broad  out-looks  over  its 
own  denominational  fence  into  neighboring  fields 
of  thought.  The  odium  tJicologicuui  had  been 
an  unknown  quantity,  had  there  always  been 
free  trade  in  the  commerce  of  theological  ideas. 
The  years  when  I  attended  his  Church  were  his 
years  of  prime  and  of  his  hardest  professional 
work  and  greatest  activity.  His  sermons  were 
not  of  the  speculative  or  philosophic  type,  for 
such  was  not  the  cast  of  his  mind.  He  was  then 
much  in  the  habit  of  "skeletonizing"  his  ser- 
mons, trusting  to  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion 
for  their  style  and  the  complete  elaboration  of 
his  thought.  He  rarely  failed  to  impress  the 
leading  doctrines  so  sacred  to  him,  and  often 
combated  what  he  regarded  the  false  philoso- 
phies, in  the  pulpit  and  out,  of  the  day.  He  was 
of  the  militant  order  of  men,  and  was  nc\'er  hap- 
pier than  when  defending  "  the  faith  "  against 
the  men  and   the  system  \\hich  openl\-  or  covertly 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  II3 

assailed  it.  He  hated  social  wrongs,  he  hated 
cant.  That  holy  wrath  which  burns  in  the  utter- 
ances of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  as  they  scourge 
the  hypocrisy  and  oppression  of  their  day,  re- 
appeared in  this  man  of  moral  passion  and  of 
glowing  sympathy  with  the  just,  the  good,  and 
the  true,  and  of  hate  of  the  wrong,  the  hypocrite 
and  the  false.  No  man  was  less  awed  by  power 
in  any  unworthy  sense ;  no  man  paid  less  hom- 
age to  accidental  greatness.  All  the  veneering 
of  society  he  mercilessly  tore  from  those  who 
sought  it  for  a  covering  of  selfishness  and  op- 
pressive greed. 

One  pulpit  characteristic  may  be  noted — the 
large  use  he  made  of  the  poetry  of  the  Bible. 
Himself  a  poet,  his  fancy  literally  reveled  in  the 
imagery  of  the  Hebrew  melodists.  The  Book  of 
Job,  Ecclesiastes,  the  later  prophets,  and  above 
all,  the  Psalms,  were  of  his  poetic  religious  clas- 
sics. I  doubt  if  I  ever  heard  him  preach  or  pray 
that  he  did  not  invest  much  of  his  thought  with 
the  poetry  of  the  Old  Testament.  More  than 
any  man  I  ever  knew,  his  type  of  mind,  his  meth- 
ods of  illustration,  his  genius,  in  short,  were  of 
Hebrew  mould.  If  he  discoursed  of  death,  the 
Ninetieth    Psalm    was    on    his    lips.     He    never 


I  14  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

wearied  of  the  rhythmic  thought  of  that  "  SonL,^  of 
Moses."  The  imagery  of  the  decay  of  the  hu- 
man faculties  in  the  closing  chapter  of  Eccle- 
siastes,  "  The  silver  cord  is  loosed,  the  golden 
bowl  is  broken,  the  pitcher  at  the  fountain,  and 
the  wheel  at  the  cistern,"  were  his  interpreters  of 
the  vanishing  shadows  of  time. 

"  How  is  the  strong  staff  broken  and  the  beau- 
tiful rod."  "  The  beauty  of  Israel  is  slain  upon 
the  high  places,  how  are  the  mighty  fallen  and 
the  weapons  of  war  perished,"  voiced  his  lament 
over  the  great  dead  whom  he  mourned.  His 
memory  was  a  picture-gallery  of  the  Book  of  Job, 
and  in  his  moments  of  intellectual  exaltation  he 
would  bear  you  as  in  a  triumphal  chariot  amid 
the  sublimities  of  the  Arabian  poet.  He  loved  a 
few  of  the  old  English  poets  from  whose  wells  he 
oftener  drew  than  from  the  moderns.  He  had  no 
s)^mpathy  with  the  sentimental  schools,  and  his 
taste  was  severe  and  exacting.  As  illustrating 
his  love  of  sacred  poetry,  I  will  relate  an  incident 
connected  with  a  visit  to  him  a  few  weeks  before 
his  death.  He  was  too  weak  to  walk  unaided, 
his  voice  feeble,  but  his  spiritual  vision  clear  as 
the  sunlight.  He  spoke  of  poetry  as  the  natural 
form  of  expression  of  divine   praise  and  worshi[), 


mp:morial  paper.  115 

and  quoted  from  his  favorite  Hebrew  poets.  He 
asked  me  to  read  the  translation  of  the  Russian 
Hymn  to  the  Deity — a  favorite,  and  a  hymn  of 
marvellous  grandeur  and  sublimity. 

The  reading  concluded,  he  pronounced  it  the 
noblest  of  modern  hymns  of  praise.  I  said  I 
knew  another  not  unworthy  to  go  with  it,  and 
read  his  own  "  Ode  to  God."  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  reading,  the  tears  flowing  down  his  cheeks, 
he  said,   "  It  is  much  better  than  I  thought." 

With  all  the  boldness  and  vigor  of  his  mind, 
his  sensibility  found  expression,  on  occasion,  in 
strains  of  elegiac  beauty.  I  am  tempted  to  recall 
an  illustration  of  this  side  of  his  genius.  This 
example  is  from  a  funeral  sermon  delivered  on 
the  occasion  of  the  death  of  young  Sprague, 
son  of  the  late  Dr.  Sprague,  whose  memory  is 
still  fragrant  among  us.  He  accidentally  shot 
himself  on  Grand  Island,  and  for  three  days  his 
body  was  undiscovered,  and  when  found  had  no 
appearance  of  decay.  I  quote  from  the  sermon 
a  reference  to  this  circumstance: 

"  He  fell  without  a  struggle  or  a  motion  ;  one 
moment  full  of  life,  in  the  next  his  mortal  remains 
lay  under  the  shadows  of  the  primitive  forests, 
protected  from   the  sun  by  the  boughs  of  those 


I  l6  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

ancient  trees,  which  were  planted  by  the  hand  of 
God  before  the  vessel  of  Columbus  touched  the 
shore  of  the  new  world.  There,  in  the  cahn  quiet 
of  its  last  sleep,  lay  the  body  of  our  dear  young 
friend,  for  days  and  nights,  yet,  no  wild  beast  of 
the  forest  was  suffered  to  touch  it,  no  fowl  of 
the  air  was  permitted  to  alight  upon  that  soul- 
deserted  tenement;  with  strange  instinctive  rev- 
erence the  denizens  of  the  woods  respected  the 
remains  which  are  before  us  to-day,  unmutilated 
and  with  less  change  than  is  the  ordinary  result  of 
death.  No  storm  beat  upon  this  defenseless  tab- 
ernacle of  a  departed  spirit,  no  rain  descended  to 
disfigure  or  deform  that  guarded  body ;  only  the 
dews  fell,  like  angels'  tears,  and  they  were  dried 
up  by  the  breath  of  the  morning.  We  may  im- 
agine the  innocent  birds  gazing  down  from  the 
neighboring  trees  with  amazement,  upon  this 
strange  tenant  of  their  solitudes;  watching  with 
curious  eyes  the  calm  repose  of  the  lifeless  body, 
until  the  'sentinel  stars  set  their  watch  in  the 
sky,'  looking  pitifully  down  through  the  openings 
of  the  forest  with  their  calm,  pure  eyes,  till  the 
dawning  day.  So  God  protected  the  body  of  our 
departed  friend  in  the  wilderness,  until  human 
feet  were  directed  to  its  resting-place,  and  hands 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  II7 

of  men,  with  reverence  and  solemn  awe,  raised 
and  bore  it  to  those  who  waited  in  that  fearful 
suspense.  Which  is  harder  to  be  borne  than  the 
bitterness  of  death." 

His  ablest  papers  were  of  a  controversial  char- 
acter, whatever  their  form.  He  was  like  the  war 
horse  of  whose  description  he  was  so  fond.  "  He 
saith  among  the  trumpets,  ha !  ha !  and  he  smcll- 
eth  the  battle  afar  off,  the  thunder  of  the  captains 
and  the  shouting."  His  genius  was  happy  in  the 
stimulus  of  opposition,  and  when  engaged  with  a 
foeman  worthy  his  steel,  he  was  incarnate  courage 
and  power.  There  is  a  touching  reference  to  the 
part  he  had  borne  in  the  controversies  of  his  time, 
in  his  address  to  his  people  on  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  his  pastorate.     He  says  : 

"  In  the  providence  of  God  it  has  so  happened 
that  much  of  the  labor  and  odium  of  the  neces- 
sary controversy  with  aggressive  errors  and  her- 
esies has  fallen  to  my  lot.  When  rationalism  has 
put  forth  its  dogmas,  in  some  offensive  and  hostile 
way,  I  have  been  called  to  stand  in  the  breach." 
,  He  then  proceeds  to  speak  of  his  defenses  of 
the  doctrine  of  his  Church,  and  his  resistance  to 
the  aggressions  of  Romanism  : 
9 


Il8  MEMOIR   OF   JOHN   C.  LORD. 

"  In  all  this  I  have  been  the  servant  and  agent 
of  the  Protestant  and  Orthodox  denominations 
of  this  city,  but  it  has  happened  in  my  case  as  in 
that  of  many  a  better  and  abler  man,  that  instead 
of  a  grateful  remembrance  of  a  good  service  ren- 
dered in  a  perilous  time,  the  imputation  of  a 
controversial  temper  has  followed  and  been  the 
reward  of  the  difficult  and  even  dangerous  duty  I 
have  been  called  to  discharge." 

A  single  sentence  reveals  his  satisfaction  that 
the  age  of  controversy  had  passed,  and  that  he 
too  welcomed  the  new  era : 

"  If  I  know  myself,  I  am  not  inclined  to  con- 
troversy ;  though  constitutionally  fearless  I  am 
a  lover  of  peace,  and  no  one  who  has  imputed 
to  me  a  spirit  of  controversy  can  rejoice  more 
than  I  have  done  that  for  the  last  few  years,  I 
have  not  been  compelled  to  enter  the  arena  of 
theological  discussion." 

The  Doctor's  feeling  protest  was  unnecessary. 
After  the  smoke  of  the  battle  has  cleared  away 
and  the  passions  of  the  hour  subsided,  Dr.  Lord 
appears  one  of  the  most  unselfish  and  consecrated 
men  that  ever  entered  the  lists  to  battle  for  the 
right.     And  of  all  the  contestants,  on  either  side, 


MEMORIAL   TAPER.  1  I9 

none  returned  from  the  conflict  with  brighter 
shield  or  more  untarnished  honor. 

Few  men  communicated  so  much  with  the  pub- 
lic through  the  press  as  did  Dr.  Lord.  For  the 
first  twenty  years  of  his  Buffalo  ministry,  he  dis- 
cussed almost  every  question  of  large  interest. 
His  articles  to  the  public  journals  and  his  pam- 
phlets would  make  volumes. 

In  a  pre-eminent  degree,  he  for  many  years  held 
the  position  here  which  so  many  of  the  clergy 
hold  in  Great  Britain,  that  of  an  educator  of  the 
public,  and  creator  of  public  opinion  on  matters 
of  large,  but  general  interest.  I  believe  Great 
Britain  owes  as  much  to  some  of  her  clergy  as 
she  does  to  her  statesmen,  for  the  reform  of 
abuses  which  were  crushing  out  her  life. 

Sydney  Smith,  and  Charles  Kingsley  of  a  later 
generation,  are  examples  of  clergymen  who  car- 
ried the  sorrows  and  physical  needs  of  the  masses 
on  their  hearts,  and  were  felt  in  every  corner  of 
the  Kingdom  through  their  earnest  work  to  re- 
lieve them.  It  indicates  a  timely  revolution. 
The  bodies  of  men  must  be  taken  care  of  as  well 
as  their  souls.  The  clergy  are  an  educated  class, 
consecrated  to  self-denying  labor,  and  removed 
from    the    ordinary   temptations    to    self-seeking, 


I20  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

and  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be 
great  factors  in  every  movement  which  seeks  bet- 
ter laws,  and  better  administration  affecting  pop- 
ular health,  popular  morals,  and  the  comforts  and 
recreations  of  the  people.  I  confess  to  no  sym- 
pathy with  that  feeling  which  would  restrict  the 
clergy  to  the  spiritual  office  of  their  profession. 
Some  of  the  best  outside  work  done  to-day  in 
this  country,  is  done  by  the  clergy  of  all  schools, 
liberal  and  orthodox.  Their  influence  as  a  pro- 
fession is  not  of  the  same  type  as  fifty  years  ago  ; 
less  popular  awe  hedges  them  in  to  make  them 
a  peculiar  class,  above,  rather  than  of,  the  people, 
but  their  true  power  is,  I  believe,  greater  than 
ever,  because  it  is  related  more  nearly  to  human- 
ity in  its  daily  needs.  It  has  lost  none  of  its 
sense  of  the  relations  of  the  present  to  the  future 
life,  but  it  has  a  better  appreciation  of  the  rela- 
tions of  this  life  to  itself,  as  felt  in  the  industries 
and  home-lives  of  men. 

The  strong  elements  of  Dr.  Lord  brought  out 
in  his  public  career  were  hardly  more  distinguish- 
ing than  the  characteristics  revealed  in  private 
and  personal  relations.  He  was  genial,  with  a 
happy  flow  of  wit,  and  humor  and  repartee.  He 
loved    cheerful    companionslii[)    and    valued     the 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  121 


good  things  of  the  world  as  gifts  of  God  for 
human  use.  He  had  no  small  arts,  or  sly  policies, 
but  was  open,  above  board.  If  he  opposed  he 
opposed  like  a  man.  If  he  was  on  your  side  he 
was  faithful  to  the  death.  He  was  impetuous 
but  chivalric.  He  had  prejudices  to  conquer,  but 
no  conscious  injustice  to  others  to  lament.  He 
had  the  simplicity  of  a  child,  and  without  vanity 
was  proud.  He  was  a  rash  man  who  ventured 
to  trifle  with  his  self-respect,  or  to  strike  where 
he  loved.  He  would  serve  in  no  Philistine  Tem- 
ple for  the  sport  of  lords  or  fools.  He  would 
rather,  Sampson-like,  "  bow  himself  with  all  his 
might"  between  its  "middle  pillars."  There  is 
a  holy  anger  that  resteth  in  the  bosom  of  wise 
men. 

He  was  a  warm  friend.  He  was  truly  "  a  good 
Griffith,"  and  no  one  who  had  need  of  a  mantle 
of  charity  could  ask  for  one  of  more  ample  folds 
than  his.  It  was  a  beautiful  trait  and  sometimes 
cost  him  dear,  for  he  was  not  a  discriminating 
judge  of  character.  He  was  trustful,  sympathetic, 
and  had  a  large  vision  for  the  virtues  of  his 
friends. 

His  home  was  literally  a  place  of  refuge  for 
the   poor  and   needy.      Without   children   of    his 


122  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

own,  the  children  of  others,  and  often  of  the 
extreme  poor,  had  the  protection  and  care  of  his 
house.  These  offices  were  sometimes  rewarded 
with  grateful  love.  There  is  a  poetic  beauty  in 
this  incident  :  A  poor  and  simple-minded  lad 
living  in  the  vicinity,  had  learned  to  call  the  Doc- 
tor friend.  When  told  of  his  death,  he  begged 
for  his  little  savings  that  he  might  buy  flowers 
for  the  burial  time.  He  was  gratified,  and  his 
handful  of  winter  bloom  was  placed  at  the  feet 
of  his  friend  where  they  now  rest  in  the  deep 
silence. 

This  sympathetic  nature  overflowed  the  ordi- 
nary channels  and  led  him  to  befriend  the  brute 
creation.  I  will  venture  to  say  that  no  house  in 
the  land  has  given  more  sympathy  and  care 
to  races  of  domestic  animals  than  his.  No 
words  but  his  own  can  give  any  adequate  idea 
of  his  hate  of  cruelty  to  the  poor  beasts  that 
serve  us,  and  the  high  place  he  gives  them  in  the 
Divine  Thought.  The  following  of  his  sonnets 
deserves  to  be  written  in  gold  : 

"  Doth  God  take  care  of  oxen," — who  upholds 
All    suns  and  systems — round  whose  august  scat 
The  veiled  Cherubim  with  covered   feet. 
Cry  Holy!    Holy!     He  whose  care  enfolds 


MEMORIAL   TAPER.  1 23 

The  Heavenly  Powers  who  thro'  the  streets  of  gold 
Pass  out  angelic  messengers,  more  fleet 
Than  winds  to  do  his  will?     He  who  of  old 
Spared    Nin'veh   for  his  herds,  doth   yet  behold 
The  poor  dumb  creatures,  who  do  ever  cry 
To  him  for  judgment,  groaning  with  the  lash 
And  wounds  and   hunger— can  that  All-Seeing  Eye 
Fail   to  regard  and  judge,  before  whose  flash 
The  Heavens  grow  pale?     Each  moan  of  agony 
Is  placed   on  record  'gainst   the  avenging   day. 

How  he  loved  Buffalo!  Had  it  been  all  his 
own  he  could  not  have  been  more  devoted  to  its 
interests.  He  believed  in  her,  and  in  her  future 
as  a  leading  American  city.  His  life  here  as  a 
lawyer  and  clergyman,  compassed  almost  the 
whole  growth  of  the  town.  He  knew  the  earl)- 
men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  city.  He 
had  followed  many  of  them  to  the  grave.  He 
had  outlived  all  his  early  pulpit  colleagues  save 
one,— who  is  still  with  us,  discharging  the  duties 
of  the  position  he  so  long  has  honored.  There 
was  no  other  who  on  that  bleak  winter's  day 
could  so  fittingly,  and  none  with  more  feeling, 
discharge  the  last  offices  at  the  grave  of  our 
friend,  than  the  venerable  rector  of  St.  Paul's. 

About  the  last  public  appearance  of  Dr.  Lord 
was   at    the   banquet  of  the    Buffalo    Bar,  a  few 


124  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

months  before  liis  death.  The  occasion  found  its 
highest  interest  in  his  presence.  P^or  the  first 
time  in  a  half  century  he  stood  ^\■ith  his  early 
<;uild — recognized  as  one  of  them,  and  honored  for 
his  long  and  useful  career.  Out  of  two  hundred 
guests  there  was  not  one  present  who  knew  him 
in  his  first  professional  days.  His  life  had  come 
round  a  full  circle,  and  he  came  like  a  warrior  of 
fifty  years  service,  to  bid  the  profession  of  his 
youth,  "  Hail  and  farewell."  I  am  sure  that  none 
who  were  then  present  will  ever  forget  the  wit 
and  the  genius,  and  the  rich  nature  which  he 
brought  to  that  banquet,  and  poured  out  so  prod- 
igally for  our  delight.  His  form  and  presence 
never  appeared  more  grandly  than  on  that  occa- 
sion, and  when  he  left  he  carried  with  him  the 
homage  of  all  hearts. 

I  know  that  pictorial  immortality  is  apt  to  be 
as  "  words  w^rit  in  water."  Still  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  found  in  the  New  City  Hall  a 
representative  portrait  gallery  of  Buffalo's  illus- 
trious lawyers  and  judges.  Dr.  Lord  had  a  dual 
professional  life :  Eminent  in  one,  honored  in 
both  professions.  Why  should  it  not  be  devolved 
upon  the  Buffalo  artist  whose  national  reputation 
is  our  renown  as  well  as    his,  to    paint    for    that 


MEMORIAL   PAPER.  12$ 

gallery  the  picture  of  this  peer  of  the  greatest  of 
them  all?     Do  you  say  this  will  never  be? 

I  remember  the  reply  of  the  elder  Cato,  to  one 
asking  why  he  had  no  public  statue.  "  I  would 
much  rather  be  asked  why  I  have  no  statue  than 
why  I  have  one." 

His  long  service  in  the  ministry  found  him,  at 
length,  old  and  weary.  Responsive  to  his  re- 
peated and  urgent  requests,  his  people  reluctantly 
granted  him  release,  and  in  1873  his  resignation 
of  the  pastorate  was  accepted.  That  occasion  is 
historic  and  was  marked  by  the  tenderest  expres- 
sions of  mutual  love.  A  young  man  took  his 
place,  whom  the  Doctor  at  once  adopted  to  his 
confidence  and  heart.  And  so  the  curtain  drops 
on  the  active  part  of  a  great  life. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  our  dear  friend  estab- 
lished his  home  in  a  suburban  retreat.  There, 
amid  broad  acres,  beautified  by  his  own  hands, 
and  in  a  noble  library  where  were  gathered  the 
thoughts  of  the  ages,  he  enriched  his  nature  for 
the  duties  of  time,  and  prepared  for  the  limitless 
future. 

For  a  half  century  he  had  consecrated  his 
powers  to  humanity  and  to  God.  Having  passed 
the  summit  hour  of  ordinary  life,  on  Sunday,  Jan- 


126  MEMOIR   OF  JOHN   C.  LORD. 

uary  21,  1877,  he  died.  He  died  in  the  city  that 
honored  and  revered  him,  surrounded  by  kindred 
and  friends  that  loved  him.  His  life  was  full- 
orbed,  his  death  a  peaceful  transition. 

Nothing  is  here  for  tears,  nothing  to  wail, 
Or  knock  the  breast,  no  weakness,  no  contempt. 
Dispraise  or  blame,  nothing  but  well  and  fair 
And  what  may  quiet  us  in  a  death  so  noble. 


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